Bloodied Warrior of the Web
by HandAssassinSpider-man
Summary: In ancient times there was an order of warriors with abilities that were considered supernatural. For years they were renowned as some of the deadliest warriors in the world until they were destroyed and the survivors scattered. Ten years have passed and one of them, Peter, finds himself in a brutal and unforgiving land where he's caught the eye of it's vampiric queen, Arkhalla...
1. Chapter 1

So this will be a much different take on Spider-man then what we're used to. For starters, it'll be set in more ancient times and will feature a wide variety of characters from comics and some video games suited to this era like Red Sonja, Conan, Hercules, Thor, Angela, Loki etc.

The main pairing will be Peter and the vampire Queen of Ur, Arkhalla.

This won't be a very long story, it'll probably be around the same length as Family to the End at least. This is just something I came up with after reading Queen of Vampires and then seeing the picture of the Spider Knight from that Ultimate Spider-man cartoon and thought 'What the hell, why not'.

Peter's spider suit design will be based off the Spider Knight appearance from the Ultimate Spider-man cartoon in that his suit is armor and he has arm blades built into it with the only real differences being the suit is a darker color of red and the lenses aren't white but black along with the blue portions of the armor. He'll possess the usual spider powers like speed strength, spider-sense but also have organic webs, fangs, and night vision.

Also, a last note, this Peter will be much darker than most incarnations, he's not evil it's just the time period he's grown up in and has lived in is pretty brutal, like a sort of cross of Medieval times and the ancient world where society's standards and morals were a lot looser if not outright absent compared to now a days. It's kill or be killed, survival of the fitness and all that. Now that doesn't mean he's devoid of feeling and we will see quite a few of his more notable traits that show yeah he's more heartless then most incarnations but he's still a Spider-man at his core to an extent.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

Amongst the darkened barren field, a lone figure clad in a dark blue hooded cloak slowly made his way across the moonlit landscape. The only sounds emanating from him being the armored footfalls of his boots and the small amount of gold in his pack slung over his shoulder that also held a small amount of food, a water skin that was half filled and another smaller flask that would occasionally jolter it's hidden liquid contents. The man let out a muffled gruff as he steadily approached the recently conquered and raided city of Lakar, hoping that there will be some food or even untainted water for him to resupply with before continuing on his way to... anywhere he wanted really.

The man's name was Peter, a man who was once part of an ancient and powerful order of warriors. But that time has long since passed, these days he was nothing more than a glorified mercenary moving from one kingdom to another, searching for a new purpose in life when he wasn't acting as a grunt in some king's army or training their troops so that they last longer than a single battle.

Peter had to hold back the urge to gag as he made his way through the still smoldering ruins of the once great city of Lakar. Barley several days ago the trade center was under siege by the armies of Ur and after several long weeks this city had finally fallen to the seemingly undead legions of Ur has started to become infamous for across the lands.

Peter is willing to bet the rumors of the armies of Ur being unkillable aren't entirely true, after all he just passed over several dozen rotting corpses of the attackers several moments ago beside several burnt down siege engines as he approached the destroyed walls of Lakar that were clad in the armor of Ur's warriors.

After several minutes of making his way through the charred ruins of what once appeared to be a market, he felt a slight tingling sensation at the base of his skull and his hearing picked up the barest of movements behind him. Peter paused mid stride and slowly looked over his shoulder to see a hooded figure standing only ten feet away from him. Peter tensed at the close proximity as he fully turned his body to face the being.

"…Hello?" Peter asked carefully.

The hooded figure quirked their head to the side "Who are you?"

Peter narrowed his eyes at the man as the tingling at the base of his skull increased "Peter…"

"Hmmm" the figured hummed as their hidden eyes took in his form, noticing the dark red armor beneath the cloak "That armor… it is familiar to me…"

"So I've heard from others" Peter said as he took a slight step back, his armored boot crushing the charred wood underneath his weight.

The hooded figure began to chuckle, causing Peter's skin to crawl. There was something… unsettling about the man's laugh as he continued to chuckle until it suddenly stopped and his hidden gaze bore into Peter's.

"…Why are you here boy?" the unknown man asked as he took a step towards Peter who took another back, wanting to keep his distance from the mysterious and obviously dangerous man.

"Just passing through… maybe find something to salvage that hasn't been destroyed or claimed already by Ur" Peter said as his body tensed.

"…So you're a scavenger… looting battlegrounds for trinkets, money, and weaponry?" the figure asked amused as they took another step forward.

"No… almost ran out of supplies a day ago… was hoping to resupply here but…" Peter trailed off as the figure took another step and he activated one of his arm blades.

 **SNIKT!**

The figure stopped dead in his tracks while Peter raised the silver blade, the moonlight reflecting off the shiny blade "I'm not looking for trouble…"

"Shame…" the figure said with a slow shake of their head "…I'm looking for food!"

Suddenly the figure leapt at Peter with more speed then he assumed the man capable of achieving and was just barely able to swing his blasé at the man, cutting him across the chest before kicking him away. The figure let out a pained growl at the slash and an even louder growl from the kick before they suddenly righted themselves in midair and landed in a crouch, the hood falling to reveal a man with pale white skin, blood red eyes that glowed with hunger and shoulder blade length black hair.

The man opened his mouth and let out a hiss, showing several of his teeth seemed to be replaced by fangs. Peter's eyes widened at this reveal.

"You're a…?" he said in some shock.

"A child of the night" the man hissed in dark amusement as he stood up and looked down at the bleeding wound on his chest that was already starting to heal at an unnatural rate "And based on your reactions… I'd say I'm not the first you've encountered before"

"And you'd be correct" Peter said as he activated his second arm blade and slipped into a slightly more defensive stance "I have no quarrel with you night walker but if you don't leave me be… you will"

The man grinned darkly as he shrugged off his robe to reveal a muscular yet pale chest and he licked his lips "Hmm I do so love it when my food fights back… it makes the reward all the sweeter when I indulge myself"

He then lunged at Peter who ducked under the man and sent his blades up towards his torso in attempt to slice the vampire in half, only for the pale man to grab both of Peter's wrists and ram his head into his helm, cracking it slightly and causing Peter to yell in pain as some of the metal dug into his temples. He pushed through the pain and tried to physically overpower the pale man.

The vampire let out a hiss of shock as he found himself being pushed back by Peter before his arms were shoved away, exposing his torso which Peter stabbed multiple times before he slashed his blade across the growling fiend's face.

"AAAAGGGGHHHH!" the pale male shrieked in pain before he back handed Peter away and clutched his bleeding face "Filthy worm! Miserable scum of the earth, how dare you mark me!"

Peter held in a groan as he was sent through several destroyed market stalls before coming to a painful stop against a scorched stone wall that was lined with bodies of the city. Just as he was about to slide down to the bloodied ground, the pale man had him by the throat and pinned him to the wall, his red eyes glaring into Peter's own covered eyes.

"Heh, someone's mad" Peter choked out before he was lifted off the ground and slammed into the wall, causing it to crack and shake from the impact before the pale man roared in rage as he flung Peter away and farther down the corpse filled road.

The pale man watched Peter roll with his momentum before springing back up and landing in a crouch, using his blades that he stabbed into the ground to halt his momentum until he finally came to a stop after several more meters. Peter let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding before looking back up at the glaring form of the pale man.

"What that's it? I've met children of the night who can throw men twice my size three times the distance!" Peter goaded, smirking at the darkening glare of the vampire _'Heh, no matter what part of the world you find them in, they all suffer from the same thing…'_

Peter stood up and brandished his blades in a challenging manner ' _They suffer from a serious case of arrogance…'_

The pale man lunged at Peter' his fangs bare and his clawed hands out to grab him. Peter braced himself and at the last moment sheathed his arm blades before jumping over the semi flying vampire and shot both arms out-

 **TWIP!**

 **TWIP!**

Two web lines shot out of Peter's wrists and he pulled himself back down towards the ground and planted his armored boots into the surprised Vampire's back.

 **KOOOM!**

"AAAAAHHHHH!" the pale man shouted as Peter's landing had snapped several vertebrae inside the undead man's spine.

Peter stepped off before he grabbed the man by the ankles and then lifted him into the air and over his shoulder before slamming him down into the earth again and repeated the process several more times before he threw the crippled vampire into the nearby side of a building that looked to have been destroyed by a large rock fired by a catapult.

Peter watched as the pale man was sent through the crumbling wall which in turn destabilized the whole structure or what was left of it and began to cave in on itself. Peter held in a wince ad the hundreds of pounds of stone, wood, and metal seemed to be burying the undead monster.

"Should have left me alone…" Peter said as he straightened himself up and turned to leave… only to suddenly turn back in the blink of an eye and grab the bloodied and bruised form of the pale man.

The vampire roared and raged as it violently shook in Peter's grip who was having some difficulty holding the pale creature in place as he unsheathed his free arm blade and suddenly jammed it into the head of the vampire, causing him to let out a startled gurgle of surprise as the blade cleaved it's way into his skull and brain.

Peter narrowed his eyes at the pale man before he suddenly jerked his blade to the side and tore it from the unresponsive vampire's skull, dropping the body with a grunt before raising his blade again and slashing downwards again, severing the head in one clean swipe. The head rolled away from the body until it came to a stop on it's side, the vampire's dead red eyes gazing up at Peter as he kicked the head into the air before grabbing it by the hair.

"Well that's one less vampire I have to worry about" Peter mused as he stared into it's dead eyes before shrugging and dropping the head on to the ground and prepared to leave in search of food, water and other supplies when he picked up the sounds of multiple horses and their riders approaching.

Peter let out a sigh "By the gods, please don't be more of them…"

He turned to see multiple riders approaching before they came to a stop several meters away with one continuing forward. Peter narrowed his eyes at man who appeared to be the leader if his uniform was anything to go by.

The man stopped several feet from Peter, his horse's muzzle about level with Peter's face "Who are you?"

"Peter…" he replied evenly "And you are?"

The man had an air of power and authority around him that Peter has often come to associate with high ranking military men.

The man's eyes' narrowed "I am Bel, high general of the Undying Queen's armies"

"Oh…" Peter said before he gave the man a nod "How do you do sir…"

Bel's eyes narrowed at the lack of respect before he saw the pale headless body next to Peter's feet… and the face of the head staring up at the sky.

"By the nights…" Bel whispered in slight disbelief as he unsaddled himself from his steed and approached the severed head and lifted it up to better examine it "…Morbius"

"That's his name?" Peter asked with a quirked brow under his helm "Who was he?"

"A former member of my queen's court, one of her best fighters" Bel said before his face twisted into that of revulsion "Until he betrayed her and attempted to murder her in her sleep"

"Wow… so does this mean I get a reward of some sort?" Peter asked, hoping this was the case.

Bel glanced at Peter with doubt "You're the one that killed him?"

"No, it was the numerous corpses your men left after the siege that did, I just happened to stumble across him after the deed was done and claim responsibility" Peter scoffed.

Bel's eyes narrowed dangerously as he took a step towards Peter "You will speak to me with respect cur or I'll-"

 **SNIKT!**

"End up like your former friend there" Peter growled out darkly as the tip of his arm blade poked into Bel's throat to the point it almost drawled blood.

Bel's guards tensed and reached for their weapons and prepared to come to their lord's aid when he held up a hand and waved them off as he kept his gaze on Peter. The two men held the other's stare for what felt like hours with the only sounds being the whines of the horses and the rustling wind.

Finally, Bel spoke in a calm but dark tone "Fine… for your actions, you will be rewarded a modest some of gold"

Peter stared at the man for a moment before nodding and sheathed his blade "Alright… so where is it?"

At this Bel smirked darkly "In Ur… and you'll have to carry the body there yourself if you wish to receive any payment"

Peter felt his brow twitch at the man as he turned his back on him and returned to his horse. Peter then let out a sigh as he kneeled down and grabbed both Morbius's body and head. He flung the headless body over his shoulder and carried the head by the hair and silently followed after the departing Bel and his men.

'… _Should have gone to Latveria'_ Peter thought tiredly as he set a fast pace to keep pace with the soldiers of Ur as they were meeting up with over a dozen more riders a half mile up ahead.

…

* * *

And done.

So next chapter Peter arrives in Ur to obtain his reward but gets more than he bargained for… not that he's complaining.


	2. Chapter 2

Answers to reviewers questions or statements:

 **Jebest4781** : I might introduce a few other Marvel characters that would fit with this time period but for the most part it'll be mainly about Peter.

 **Watermeloan** : The Queen of the Vampires is Arkhalla, a cruel, cold and seductively cunning woman with a actual lust for blood. So pretty much half the women that Peter ends up attracting.

 **mj4wzpw** : Yeah, some of these Vampires are about to learn that they aren't the only things that go bump in the night.

 **Spawn Hades** : Yeah a few marvel characters might show up aside from the ones I have planned but they won't have any real significance to the story. Might be mentioned in passing or have a cameo but that's it.

 **Marveldcfan** : I did but I also saw that there was already a story out with Spidey hooked up with those two. Granted I can easily make one that's nowhere near similar to that one but when I was doing that I came across Queen of Vampires and well it ust sort of took off. I still have plans to make that Red Sonja, Spider-man and Vamprella story though.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

Peter grumbled in annoyance as he carried Morbius's body over his shoulder while Bel and his men had linked up and left him with a caravan populated by slaves that were being taken to Ur from the conquered areas around what was left of Lakar. For what purpose aside from labor, Peter didn't know or really care to know, he just wanted his money, a place to stay for a few nights and he's be back on the road to…

' _Well anywhere at this point. Unless I find something around here to keep me interested for a while'_ Peter thought as he adjusted his grip on the corpse which caused blood to fall from it and cause on of the chained slaves, a man with pale blonde hair to jump and nearly crash into a Ur soldier's horse which wined in surprise and cause the man to curse in surprise as he got his steed back under control.

The guard glared at the slave as he smacked the man in the back with his spear "Watch where you're going or the next time will see that you get the edged end of this spear"

The slave whimpered in a way that caused Peter to actually feel bad for the man. He then glanced at the guard that made the threat "Easy, it was my fault he jumped"

"The same goes for you cur!" the man said with glowing eyes and Peter swore he saw fangs in the man's mouth before his horse trotted ahead.

' _Nice people, I can see why everyone comes here'_ Peter thought sarcastically before looking at the slave with a exasperated look under his helmet "Try to keep yourself together, I really don't feel like having to deal with anymore Vampires this evening if I can help it"

The man whimpered again but nodded as he kept his head down and tried to walk a little faster but his shackles made it a little hard. Peter shook his head at the display and couldn't help the pity he was feeling for the man grow a little more.

He's never been onboard with enslaving anybody, but a small part of him, the part that he tries to keep buried under years of discipline and training couldn't help but think 'better them then me'.

Peter quickly shook his head of those thoughts as he and the caravan continued to march on for hours until finally Peter could faintly make out the city on the horizon. He doubt's anyone else here will see it for another half hour given their pace, including the vampires, but at least it let him know that this night will hopefully be coming to a rather swift and acceptable end.

' _Though with my luck as of late, I'll somehow end up fighting half the city's guard because I somehow enraged someone of authority and power'_ Peter thought dryly as he adjusted his grip on Morbius's body and marched through the night with only the caravan's guards and slaves to keep him company.

…

Several hours later, inside the throne room of Ur, surrounded by numerous men and women engaging in a wide range of sinful and sexual activities sat the Undying Queen, Arkhalla, upon her grey stoned throne clad in only a red loincloth, a golden crown to keep her raven haired out of her face, golden bands on her wrists, arms, legs, ankles and around her collar and a pair of small golden disks that only covered her nipples, leaving the rest of her full perfectly round breasts on display. In her hand was an elaborate golden scepter that symbolized her authority and unknown to most housed a small dagger for her to use in case her unnatural abilities weren't enough.

Her icy sapphire blue eyes seemed to glow with a sort of dark hunger, both in lust and for the blood that was filling a golden chalice for her to drink from.

The contents of the cup originated from the last of the warriors of the recently conquered city of Larak. They weren't the strongest or bravest of men, no they were simply all that was left after the before mentioned men were either killed, enslaved or routed from their homes.

She hungrily drank from the chalice as she stared down at the last surviving man whose throat was about to be slit by one of her guards before she suddenly spoke.

"Wait… not that one" she said as she set her chalice on one of her throne's arm rest "Set him aside for later"

Her most decorated and trusted general Bel, glanced at her with a questioning look "Your bath perhaps?"

Arkhalla smirked as she watched the man be dragged away, there was something about him that was different compared to the rest. He may prove useful in some other manner than stating her need for blood "Perhaps…"

She continued to drink the blood of her now defeated and dead enemies, enjoying the rush of energy that filled her with every sip of the crimson liquid, the blood dripping down her chin and landing on her breasts and slowly sliding down them was almost erotic in feeling and caused another hunger in her to begin to grow. The large orgy taking place in her throne room may have also started to be affecting her.

She downed the last of the blood before glancing at the chalice with a bored look "So much for warriors' blood…"

She then stood up and began to descend the stair case emanating from her throne, dropping the cup on her way down and made her way through the orgy that was still at the peak of it's performance and looks like it'll be continuing for the rest of the day and perhaps into the evening.

She casted a sly look at Bel who was walking by her side, his scent filling her nose and causing her to lick her lips in hunger "What about the other captives?"

"A choice of the healthiest specimens, as always. They await your pleasure" Bel said with a smirk as he returned the looks his queen gave him with just as much heat and hunger.

She stepped over several bodies that have been already drained by several vampires, both man and woman, that populated the group as she made her way to a grand stair case that would take her to the second highest balcony in her palace, after her own private one of course.

Before she ascended any higher she looked over her shoulder at Bel, a seductive expression on her face "Pleasure before Pleasure Bel"

She then turned and began to ascend again "I wish to see the dawn first. And after that, I want you in my chambers. Bring company. I leave the choice to you"

Bel grinned lustfully at the recipient of his secret love before glancing through the hall and picked out another raven-haired woman who was almost as equally enticing as his queen and began to approach her.

As Arkhalla continued to climb the steps, she saw one of her guards at the entryway to her balcony. She frowned at the man, wondering what it is he wanted "What is it?"

The man bowed deeply "My queen, what would you have us do with the man who has slayed Morbius?"

At this Arkhalla's brows shot up in surprise "What?"

The guard looked at her in slight puzzlement "A man, he had encountered Morbius in the remnants of Lakar and slew him. Several of our men led by General Bel found him and after hearing what transpired, escorted the man back here for his reward. He's been waiting for an audience for quite some time now, did general Bel not mention it? He said he would alert you to his presence when he had him escorted into the palace earlier"

At this her eyes narrowed in silent rage, both being unbale to see the sun rise and because of Bel's apparent stupidity in not mentioning that one of if not the greatest threat to her rule at the moment had been slain and the one to do the deed has yet to be rewarded for such a feat "No… it appears that Bel had forgotten to mention this to me…"

She then turned from her balcony as the sun began to creep over the distant mountains "Take me to this man, I wish to meet with the one that was able to achieve something that even I would have trouble accomplishing…"

"Yes my queen" the guard said as he escorted the Vampeirc monarch back down her stair case, it seems she won't be enjoying the sunrise after all… and Bel will not being welcomed in her chambers either as it turns out if what this guard says is true.

…

Peter glanced at the door in thought before he cracked his neck to work out the kink building in it and slid his helm back on, having taken it off over an hour go as he began to feel overheated. He was beginning to wonder if he should come back later in the day but he wasn't sure that the guards will even let him back in if he tried. He decided that he's cross that bridge when he came to it and was just about to leave and find a place to stay in the city, an inn hopefully, when the doors to the throne room suddenly opened.

The person to strode out of the doorway was to Peter's mild surprise, the Undying Queen herself, Arkhalla who gave him a slightly apologetic smile that did not meet her cold blue eyes.

She reached Peter's chin in height and possessed a seemingly unnatural beauty that seemed more reserved for the gods than a mortal or immortal if the supposed rumors of her were to be true. She was scantily clad, likely as a result of the admittedly unbearable heat and likely to charm and ensnare any man or women dumb enough to fall for the trap.

Peter was proud to say he wasn't that dumb… doesn't mean he couldn't silently admire the woman's figure as she approached Peter with an interested expression on her face.

"Forgive me warrior, I was unaware that you were waiting to speak with me. Had I known, I would have granted you an audience within moments of stepping foot in my halls given your recent accomplishment" Arkhalla said with a slightly seductive tone that caused Peter's heart to skip a beat before he mentally shook himself and gave the woman a slight bow.

"No need to apologize my queen, I'm sure my timing was less than convenient for you"

Arkhalla smirked at Peter, enjoying the scent he gave off. There was something primal about it that she was beginning to like and from what she could see, he was a fine specimen, perhaps even more so than Bel or any of her warriors under her command "Not at all… what should I address you as?"

"Peter is fine my queen" the man said as he watched the Queen kneel down and remove the cloth covering Morbius's head.

Her eyes narrowed as she lifted the bloodied thing up by the hair and closely examined it with a blank look on her face before she chuckled softly "Poor Morbius, always hoping to get ahead in life…"

She then suddenly dropped the head of what was once her closest friend and glanced at Peter who straightened himself before giving off a barely audible hiss as one of his aches from the vicious fight he engaged in earlier this evening flared up, while he does heal far faster than your average man or woman, a fight as brutal as his with Morbius will leave some pain for a time.

"You must be exhausted" Arkhalla said with a slight frown before she turned to one of her guards with a hard look in her eye that could stop a legion of men in their tracks "See to it that Peter's reward is gathered and the body of Morbius is properly disposed of. I shall see to it that our hero here is rewarded… justly"

The guards nodded and Peter watched as they stopped to gather the wrapped body of Morbius before leaving.

"Make sure to burn that thing, he strikes me as a man that can somehow even outcheat death if there is a body for his spirit to return to" Peter said as he watched the men gather the dead vampire's remains.

The men grumbled in annoyance, leaving Peter with Arkhalla and several of her personal guards outside her throne room that smelled heavily of blood, sweat and sex, but mostly blood.

Arkhalla studied the armored man before her with interest before speaking "Peter, would you care to rest and unburden yourself? I'm sure the journey here after defeating a man as powerful as Morbius was quite exhausting"

"If you would allow it" Peter said with a slight nod, in fact he's dying to just fall on to a bed and sleep for the rest of the year.

"Of course, come with me" Arkhalla said as she slid her arm through is and escorted him to her own chambers "And allow me to properly apologize for making you wait so long"

"What do you have in mind my lady?" Peter asked before Arkhalla glanced up at him with a coy look "…Oh"

"Are you not interested?" she asked with amusement, she knew he was given that she can hear his heart beat increase and she can practically hear and smell the blood rushing to certain parts of his body below the waist.

"No, no it's just surprising is all" Peter said with a cough as he resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck _'Well looks like I won't be getting any rest any time soon… not that I mind at this point'_

"It's understandable, but I don't believe anything less than a morning- no an entire day in my chambers with me to satisfy you, will undo the damage already done by my General's inactions" Arkhalla said as the duo wandered through her palace, passing several guards along the way and making their way up several stair cases before finally arriving at her quarters.

She glanced at one of her guards with narrowed eyes "Is General Bel already here?"

"No my queen" one of the guards shook his head.

Arkhalla nodded at this before the doors were pushed open by her guards "When he arrives, alert me to his presence. I would have words with him"

"Yes mistress" the guards both said as they closed the doors behind Peter and Arkhalla who pulled Peter to her bed that was large enough to comfortably sleep four or even five people.

Peter glanced around and saw that the sun was rising in the distance, casting a beautiful golden glow on the city and the surrounding landscape. Peter then turned to see Arkhalla beginning to disrobe and realized that he had yet to even start.

Mentally chiding himself, he began to remove his armor and was soon aided by a now bare Arkhalla who helped him remove the armored chest piece and place it down on a table that sat at the base of a golden statue of her late father.

She ran a hand over the faded symbol of a spider with a curious gaze _'A spider… odd, only one group of men and women had ever adorned themselves with this symbol…'_

She then turned back to Peter to help him with the rest of his armor, licking her lips as she saw more and more of his flesh become exposed to her and even began to trace some of the faded and jagged scars decorating his skin. There were two scars that caught her attention, one was in the shape of an 'X' over where his heart should be and the other was just above his navel that looked to have been inflected by some sort of serrated blade, the skin around it having healed wrong and leaving it rough to the tough.

After several more moments, Peter was now as bare as the Queen. He slowly sat on her bed and watched her approach with a seductive sway in her hips. She had just kneeled before him and was about to take his already harden cock in her mouth when a knock at the door echoed through the room. Arkhalla paused and glanced at the door before standing up, but not before giving Peter a slightly apologetic smile.

"Forgive me, but this will only take a few moments, help yourself to the other woman that will be joining us until I am done with Bel" she said as she placed a kiss on Peter's cheek before it was captured by his own lips.

She moaned into the heated kiss before pulling back and approached her doors and opened them to see Bel and another woman, this one stunningly beautiful standing there. Bel raked his eyes up and down Arkhalla's from with lust as did the woman he was with and even moaned at the sight of her wet sex on full display.

"Already gotten started without me my queen?" he asked with a grin as he took a step forward only to be stopped by a hand on his chest belonging to Arkhalla who had a less than pleased expression on her face.

She glanced at the other woman and nodded her head, the girl grinned before entering the room, stopping only for a moment to plant a kiss on the queen's bare shoulder and approached the bed that was already occupied by Peter. The woman glanced at Peter with a hungry look and began to quickly remove the thin robe she was wearing while Arkhalla glared at a confused Bel.

"My quee-" he started only to be interrupted by a powerful smack from the enraged immortal monarch.

"General Bel, is there a reason why I was uniformed by the arrival of the man that was able to slay Morbius, someone that has been a grave threat to my kingdom for months now?" Arkhalla asked as she stared down the large man.

Bel flinched "I apologize my lady, I forgo-"

 **THRAK!**

Another smack cut him off, this time drawing blood as Arkhalla glared at him "Normally I'd be flattered that a morning, no an entire day in my bed would cause your memory to leave you but in this instance Bel, I'm beyond angry and annoyed at your inactions!"

Bel flinched at the tone she used towards him before he watched her turn and wave him away.

"See yourself out general, I will call for you when I have need of you later, but do not think for a moment that you will be having me in any shape or form any time soon!" Arkhalla said as she had the doors slam shut in his enraged face.

She turned her attention to the bed and was happy to see that the woman that Bel brought has already servicing Peter's cock. Arkhalla licked her lips in hunger as she approached the duo and joined her fellow raven haired woman on her knees and began to lick Peter's shaft while the other woman focused on his tip.

Peter let out a groan as he cupped both women's heads and let them work their magic. Arkhalla smirked as she lavished his throbbing dick with her skillful tongue while her accomplice sucked and kissed Peter's mushroom shaped head before she began to slowly trail her lips and own skillful tongue down the other side of Peter's member. The two raven haired beauties soon synched their movements so that they were both trailing up and down his length, their tongues occasionally touching each other while they both fondled with his ball sack in one hand and rubbed their own wet and eager sexes with the other.

"By the gods woman…" Peter groaned out as he felt laid back on the bed and let the women continue to orally please him with far more skill then he's ever experienced.

Arkhalla giggled as she released Peter's dick and latched her mouth on to one of the other woman's tits and began to hungrily suck on the supple flesh, causing the deepthroating woman to moan which in turn further stimulated Peter's dick.

Peter felt that at this rate he'd unload himself on both women before they suddenly stopped and stood up. The two women turned towards each other and began to run their hands over the other's body, cupping each other's breasts that were pressed tightly against the other and running their tongues dancing across the other's.

Peter laid back and watched the two women help themselves to the other as he began to stroke his dick at the sight. It didn't feel as divine as the two women's earlier actions but it would have to do. Several minutes passed before Arkhalla pulled out of the kiss and captured Peter's lips with her own as the other woman made her way down to the Vampireic queen's sex and began to lick and kiss her clit as her fingers teased her entrance.

Peter cupped Arkhalla's faces as he slid his tongue into her mouth while she returned the gesture as her nails raked down his torso. The two moaned into the kiss as Arkhalla's hand made its way down to his cock and began to stroke it while her other hand took Peter's and placed it on her tit which he began to fondle roughly, casing the queen to giggle at the feeling and from the servant girls' actions to her neither regions.

After several more minutes of lavishing each other's mouth with their tongue's, the two separated and Arkhalla took the girl from her knees and kissed her roughly on the lips, enjoying her own taste on the servant's lips while Peter moved forward and placed his head in between the queen's legs and began to kiss and lick her pussy as well.

"Ahhh" Arkhalla moaned out as the servant girl latched on to her neck and bit down hard enough to draw blood and began to hungrily suck on it, making Arkhalla shudder in pleasure as her nails dug into the woman's back until they pierced her skin and began to rake them down her back, leaving bloodied marks.

The girl released her queen and gasped in pained ecstasy as Arkhalla took her blood-soaked hand and rubbed it across the younger vampire's face, causing her to lick her palm before she drew her into a searing kiss while Peter continued to lavish her inner walls with his tongue and fingers.

Minutes passed as the queen ravished her companion's mouth with hers and Peter devoured her core until finally she felt her release come and she unleashed her juices on to his face. Peter pulled away from the panting queen and chuckled as he wiped some of her cum off before Arkhalla pulled him into a kiss as the other woman climbed behind Peter and suddenly sank her teeth into his shoulder, causing him to grunt as he sucked the blood from Arkhalla's mouth and into his before passing it back through hers.

While Peter may not be blessed, or cursed to be a nightwalker, he still in a way craves blood be it for recreational purposes or for when he's on the battlefield. He and other members of his long-disbanded order have long since argued it was a result of gaining powers that resemble a spider. They can create webs and crawl on just about any surface, it only makes sense that they gain their sort of cravings as one.

After a few minutes Peter pulled out of his kiss with Arkhalla and looked over his shoulder to see that the other vampire swallow his blood before giving him a bloodied smile that he returned before engaging in a searing kiss as Arkhalla turned her back to Peter and slowly descended until her wet womanhood touched Peter's hardened and throbbing sex and moaned like any of the whores that populate her court's orgies as he took her hips in his hands and pulled her down until he was fully sheathed inside her.

"By the grace of night!" Arkhalla nearly screamed in pained ecstasy, she's never in all of her years taken a male lover this large. His cock reached places she never knew could experience such pleasure and the way his thickness starched her out and actually hurt caused her to grow even wetter as she began to rise and fall on his prick.

Peter pulled himself from the bloodied kiss and began to kiss and lick Arkhalla's back while the other girl stood up on her knees and captured her queen's lips with her own after grabbing her hair and forcing her to turn so she may be silenced.

As the queen of Ur, Peter and the raven haired maiden lost each other in the other's body, Bel strolled the halls with an enraged scowl as he mentally cursed the human for not only costing him a chance to lay with his queen but possibly jeopardize his standing with her and his own goals.

"Filthy little peasant!" Bel hissed in rage before he saw one of his officers approaching him. Bel's eyes narrowed at the man "What is it?"

"My lord" the lesser vampire bowed "After we returned I had taken it upon myself to investigate this man that had slain Morbius and discovered something rather intriguing"

"What is it?" Bel asked with some curiosity.

"He was once a member of the Order of Araneae before it was destroyed by the Goblin King in the battle of Manda-Han almost a decade ago" the man said.

Bel's eyes winded at this "Is that right?"

"Yes my lord, not only does he wear the armor they were famous for, it's the only other explanation of how he survived against someone as powerful as Morbius and be as lightly injured as he was"

Bel frowned at that, originally, he was entertaining with the idea of killing the man but now learning this man was once a member of one of the deadliest group of warriors to have ever existed…

Well Bel wasn't that eager to test his own skills against him anytime soon, not until he knows his limits, his strengths and most of all… his weaknesses.

' _And once the queen learns of this, she'll be even less willing to let him leave and will offer much to convince him to stay'_ Bel thought with a mixture of rage and annoyance.

There were very few surviving members of the order of Araneae and many kings, queens, emperors and other rulers all across the lands sought to have even one in their armies. The level of skill and power they offered were nearly unmatched and would almost guarantee victory in any battle they were used in.

After several minutes of silence Bel sighed in dread "Is the Queen aware of this?"

"No, but I have no doubt she'll soon recognize him for what he is and offer him half the gold in her kingdom to ensure his loyalty" the man said plainly.

' _Or even herself, which she's in the middle of doing now'_ Bel thought darkly before he waved the man away "Leave me"

The man nodded as he gave another bow before swiftly turning on his heel and leaving the general to his thoughts before an idea came to him that could prove to benefit him in the long run if it all pans out.

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, Arkhalla makes plans to expand her kingdom further while Peter is made an interesting offer that may allow her to do so.


	3. Chapter 3

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **Jebest4781** : Yeah, the comics will up until remain issue four which will roughly go the same with some variations but after that, it's all new territory.

 **Lustful Angel-98** : Yeah, someday I might be able to get to that.

 **Spawn Hades** : No Peter will be around for that portion of the story and no 'Goblin's' will have some role in the coup to take Ur from Arkhalla.

 **Yo** : It's kind of what I'm going with here in that Peter is more in tune to his animalistic side, plus we'll see that his upbringing had something to do with that.

 **CRUDEN** : Nah Blade won't be showing up, if he did this would be a very short story since most of the characters will die.

 **gunman** : The raven-haired woman was just some random person that happened to catch Bel's eye for what was supposed to be for his threesome with the queen. A few other Marvel characters will show up yeah or be mentioned at the very least.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

It was near midnight that Arkhalla, after spending the better part of the day with Peter and the other woman ravishing each other in a multitude of ways that would leave even a whore blushing, was making her way down to her 'bath' which wasn't too far from the dungeons clad only in a green peacock like cloak that rested on her shoulders to keep her mostly covered with only her guards and the young man that caught her attention earlier last night.

She casted a brief glance at the little thing and frowned at how skinny he was _'Hmm, not much for pleasure, but I'm sure he'll be useful in other ways'_

Arkhalla nodded at this as she and her entourage had arrived at her bath and she grinned at the three men and one woman strung up upside down over the bath all bare and with looks of absolute fright on their faces. She also made out Bel's form not too far away and had to suppress a look of annoyance on her face at seeing the man that she was still angry with as she disrobed and approached her bath as the men holing the prisoners secured the chains before grabbing long staves with curved blades on the ends and began to cut large tears across their bodies, completely draining them of blood and drenching Arkhalla in their blood like as if it were raining while it pooled and gathered in her bath until it reached her ankles before looking up at the men.

"Bring me more, I wish to completely submerge myself today" Arkhalla said with a blood-soaked smirk while she rubbed the crimson liquid across her naked form.

"Yes my queen…" the guards replied as they began to bring forth more prisoners and do the same until eventually Arkhalla was standing chest deep at the bath's deepest before signaling for the men to stop as she washed herself with the gore of her kingdoms slaves and peasants.

She than finally glanced at Bel who was standing next to her new kneeling slave boy and gave him a curt nod, still crossed with the man but after an amazing time with Peter, she supposed she could be a little more kind to the man "Speak Bel, I will allow you that much for the evening"

Bel nodded as he gathered his thoughts before he cleared his throat and began to speak, being mindful to watch his tone, knowing that Arkhalla is possibly still unhappy with his brief error yesterday.

"With Lakar taken, the only city that might pose a danger is Carcosa" Bel said as he watched his queen bath herself in the pool of blood before continuing "Unless we move on south to the port cities of Dilmun"

Arkhalla hummed at this as she scooped up a bit of blood in her hands before running it across her face and letting it drip down her neck and across her breasts and into the pool "No, it's too early in the day"

"Carcosa it is then" Bel nodded as he stood a little straighter "My men are rested and ready"

Arkhalla hummed at this as she submerged herself for a moment before rising with a gasp while she ran her hands across her body in a very sensual manner, knowing she had the attention of everyone in the room on her and loved it.

Bel watched her with obvious lust before he decided to speak on something that's been troubling him for some time now "The conscripts concern me though. I swear humans are just not made of the same stuff as in your father's day. Whining about the grain shortage, complaining that their families are starving"

Arkhalla listed to Bel as she moved towards the edge pf the pool and took a chalice that was being held by one of the servant girls and took a generous sip of the liquor as Bel continued on.

"Of course all complainers are put to the sword. But I did check the granaries and the shortage is genuine" Bel revealed with a sigh at how fragile and meek humans can be without a little food "There haven't been nearly enough supplies from the north provinces. I think Governor Izdubar is more concerned with draining the villages of Tibira then making sure they have a good harvest"

"I see…" Arkhalla said as she finally emerged from the pool, the blood dripping down her body.

Bel watched this until he saw the young man that his queen had spared last night and scowled as he saw the human stare at his queen. He narrowed his eyes at the man and growled "Eyes down wrench, you are not worthy"

Arkhalla chuckled at this as she approached the boy and gave him a coy grin "You seem a little flushed. Is it the gore, or is it me?"

He then cupped the man's crouth and grinned as she felt he was a little hard "Mmm, maybe a bit of both?"

She gave his groin a hard squeeze that caused him to hiss in pain before releasing him and stepped away with a smirk _'Still, not as large as Peter is…'_

She then glanced down at the boy "What is your name?"

"I have no name" he said with anger thrown towards her "Are we not all wretches to you?"

Arkhalla quirked a brow at this while Bel backhanded the man with a powerful smack. She chuckled as she saw some blood dripping from his mouth "That was the wrong answer"

She than glanced at Bel in amusement "I need a new body slave. He'll do"

Bel stared at her in silence before he slowly nodded "…As you command"

He then took the robe she wore earlier from one of the girls and held it out for Arkhalla while her new slave was taken away by one of her guards. Bel gave the young man a look of disgust as he used his head to gesture towards him "Clean him up and put him in the slave pin"

Arkhalla waited until the guard and the others were gone along with her new slave when she suddenly snatched Bel's sword from his waist and grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled it back to expose his throat where she placed the edge of his blade. Bel was taken by surprise and was about to ask what she was doing before she spoke in a cold whisper.

"You questioned my decision. It's as clear on your face as it is in your mind" Arkhalla's eyed narrowed in rage before she leaned in closer, the tip of Bel's sword breaking the skin slightly and causing a small stream of blood to leak out "General Bel, your one of my late father's oldest supporters and most trusted warriors, but do not think for a moment that gives you any influence over me. Or it'll be you hanging up there with your throat cut at my next bath!"

She then released him before shoving him away as she picked up her cloak and waved him off "Now leave me, I wish to be alone"

Bel held a hand up to the wound on his neck to stem the bleeding as he reached down to retrieve his sword before sheathing it "As you wish…"

He then turned on his heel and left Arkhalla to her thoughts.

The Undying Queen watched him go for a few moments before he disappeared from sight and she let out a sigh of annoyance at Bel's actions lately. He was starting to reflect Morbius in his final days at her court before he betrayed her and fled into the wilds after nearly killing her and several others.

' _Though if he does try something similar as his late cousin, I'm sure Peter will be more than willing to end him for me, especially after the gratitude I showed him earlier by slaying Morbius'_ Arkhalla thought with a chuckle as she began the journey back to her room to dress and see if her latest consort was still asleep or not.

It did not take her as long to return to her quarters and for her to see that Peter was now awake, the woman they shared last night already gone. She quirked a brow as she saw him washing his chest piece of his armor with a rag and a small basin of water.

"I could have someone do that for you… even repair it if you wish" she said as she stepped into his field of vision before disrobing and began to adorn herself in a similar attire she wore last night.

Peter glanced at her for a moment before answering as he returned to cleaning his armor "Forgive me my queen, but I'll die before I let another clean, repair or touch my armor…"

Arkhalla paused in slipping on her crown before glancing at Peter with an amused expression as she placed a hand on her hip "You didn't seem to mine me helping you out of it last night"

At this Peter chuckled "I'll make the occasional exceptions, especially to beautiful women such as yourself"

"Charmer…" she purred as she walked over and saw the bite marks on his shoulder and leaned in to lick and kiss them.

Peter casted a glance at her before he resumed his cleaning before setting the chest piece down and reaching for his gauntlets and activating the mechanism that unsheathes the silver blade, the sunlight reflecting off it's surface as if it was the fabled waters of Symkaria.

Arkhalla paused in her actions and casted a curious gaze at the blade and saw a multitude of inscriptions written in some language she's never seen before etched on the blade "Remarkable craftsmanship"

"Made it from the broken shards of my old sword" Peter said as he examined the blade for any defects "Didn't feel right to just discard it after everything I've been through with it. Least this way it's still useful"

Arkhalla hummed at this as she made to retrieve her scepter before looking over her shoulder at the man and watched as he held up his wrist towards where the rest of his belongings were and did something she didn't quite expect.

 **TWIP!**

A single line of something that smelled like the numerous webs in the caverns below her palace shot forth from his wrist and snagged a particular pouch before he yanked it over and grabbed it with his hand and removed a small stone from it and began to rub it against the blade's edges, sharpening it and filling the room with the screech of stone on metal.

"So, you are one of 'them'…" Arkhalla said aloud as she mentally reviewed everything she's gathered from the man since she first laid her eyes on him.

From his armor, to his rapid healing given all of his marks are now healed, enhanced strength given that last night he was able to physically overpower her and their bedmate at the same time and how he was able to last the better part of an entire day with two vampires when a mere human would barely last an hour at best with one, let alone one as powerful as Arkhalla.

"One of who my queen?" Peter asked as he didn't turn to meet her, instead concentrating on sharpening the blade in his hands.

"One of the fabled warriors of Aranece" Arkhalla stated as she turned to retrieve her scepter.

"Oh, that… wellI was, now I'm just a…" Peter trailed off as he tried to think of a word but came up short "Just a man getting by in the world I suppose"

"Indeed" Arkhalla said as her thoughts raced at the knowledge that she had one of the most sought-after foot soldiers in the world. After a few moments, she made a decision that could very well expand her power far greater then she could ever hope to achieve on her own. She already made plans to keep him enthralled in her service, but having him confirm what she was already suspecting made her all the more determined to have him under her command…

' _And under me in other ways'_ Arkhalla mentally chuckled before speaking aloud "Peter… how would you like to make more gold then you've ever seen in your life?"

At this, Peter turned towards her with an interested expression.

"…I'm listening"

Arkhalla smirked as she slowly approached Peter "Morbius was once one of my finest warriors, but after he left, he killed a number of my men that I've since had to use a large number of conscripts to try and fill the hole he left and given that you've killed him… Well I find my army in need of someone of your talents"

"Really?" Peter said with a raised brow.

"Yes, and I'm willing to pay you" Arkhalla said as she leaned in toward Peter with a seductive grin "Be it money… women… and if you prove yourself like you have with Morbius… me"

Peter stared at her for several moments before he answered "Well, I'd have to be daft to turn down such a generous offer like that"

"Good" Arkhalla said as she stood up and turned to leave "When you're done cleaning your armor, head down to the barracks and get yourself familiar with some of the officers that'll be under your command"

"Your giving me an officer's post?" Peter said with surprise, he wasn't expecting that much standing in her army right off the bat.

"Would you prefer to take orders from them instead?" Arkhalla asked with a frown.

"No, no, just wondering if your aware that some of your officers may not be too pleased that someone that's not one of them is giving them orders" Peter said with a shrug as he returned to cleaning his armor.

"Well…" Arkhalla said as she turned and left "I'm sure you'll have no trouble getting them to accept it, one way or another"

Peter's response was to chuckle as he lifted up his helmet and began to polish the dark red metal as it's glass like eyes stared back at him for the next few minutes. After he was done he casted a brief glance around the room.

"Well… looks like I'll be staying" Peter said as he stood up and approached his belongings and reached for a small pouch that was carefully secured and hidden amongst his things "Might as well get a lay of the land, never know when it'll come in handy…"

He opened the pouch before sticking his hand inside and began to speak in a rather soothing voice, as if speaking to a baby "Come on… come on… that's it… there we go"

He then pulled his hand out to show that he had eight black widows attached to his hand. After making sure they were secured he stood up and approached the door and listened to hear if the guards were still there, interestingly enough they weren't which caused Peter to smirk as he opened the door and casted a brief glance around and used his enhanced senses to make sure there was no one else nearby before he kneeled on the ground and let the Widows off his hand.

"You know what I want, captain of the guard, General Bel, whoever her spy master is… all of them" Peter said as he watched the small black spiders disappear into the shadows as they went about searching for their targets.

If Peter was going to stay in Ur for a time, he might as well know who to keep an eye on…

…

* * *

And done.

Peter inspects the troops, encounters Bel and has to find a way to take a bunch of half-starved conscripts and turn them into a descent fighting force to command.


	4. Chapter 4

Answers to reviewers questions or statements:

 **Spawn Hades** : Yeah Bel will be this sort antagonist for the first third of this story, but the last two thirds it will be someone else and no it won't be the Goblin King. The only time that one will appear is in a flashback. It's someone that I think would make an interesting villain for Spidey this time around instead of the usual Green Goblin, Venom or Doc Ock.

 **CRUDEN** : Yes, other spiders will appear more towards the middle and end of this story.

 **superspiderfan** : Well I can safely say that the ending from the comics won't happen here.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

"Well… this is gonna pose some problems… a lot actually. I mean I wasn't expecting the world's greatest army but I was hoping for more than… whatever this is that I'm looking at!" Peter said as he stood before a hundred and fifty conscripted men in Arkhalla's army with three of her vampiric officers behind him standing under a large tent that was completely blotted out from the sun. The three were all identified as Captains given their attire and markings on their pristine armor.

"How so?" one of the officers asked with a frown before casting a nervous look towards the tent's walls as a gust of wind rattled it.

Peter glanced at the man for a moment before gesturing towards the men "Half of them here are barely armed or protected and the other half looks like they had their last full meal at the beginning of your last harvest!"

Seriously, he's seen beggars on the streets of Wakanda with more meat on them then these men, though to be fair that nation was far richer than here. Out of the corner of his vision, Peter saw one of the vampiric officers looked less than happy and decided to speak.

"They are more than capable for battle human"

Peter stared at the man for several seconds before he shook his head and turned towards the assembled group "Shield wall!"

The men looked at Peter in confusion for a moment before they began to slowly arrange a poor shield wall, most of their shields not even being the same shape or size. Peter simply turned towards the vampiric officer before gesturing towards the men with his head "In an actual battle, half of them would be dead by now…"

He then took several steps forward "You will hold this line or I swear to whatever gods you worship, you'll wish it was your masters behind me that you displeased!"

Many of the men looked a bit frightened by this comment as Peter crouched forward with his hands on the ground before he suddenly sprinted towards the men at a fast pace for them, but slow for someone like him or the vampires he now commands. The shield wall didn't even hold as Peter practically brushed them aside and made it three rows in before he stopped, mainly because all of the men with shields were in the first two rows while the next five weren't even equipped with them.

Peter then turned on his heel and began to make his way past the knocked over and groaning soldiers with a sigh "By the gods, that was more painful for me then you lot… back into lines"

He then stopped before the three scowling vampires and gestured towards the men "That was me, being generous. Hell, I was charging at them with the same force a regular 'human' could nightwalker"

"You've made your point" one of the officers growled in annoyance.

"No, I don't think I have, not yet anyway…" Peter said with a dismissive wave before looking back at the men and frowned as he saw that only half of them had gotten back up.

"GET BACK INTO LINES NOW!" Peter roared in anger.

The result was the men rushing to get back in their assigned positions as Peter turned back towards the officers "How much of your force is made of conscripts?"

This time, it was another officer that spoke "Roughly three quarters, perhaps a bit more"

Peter glanced at the one who spoke with narrowed eyes "…That's over ninety thousand men Captain"

"Yes, it is…" the man said with a careful nod.

Peter glanced back at the men, now in lines before looking back at the officers "Are all of your companies like this?"

His answer was silence which in turn caused Peter to loudly groan "By the gods above, below and everywhere in between, do you even feed your troops?!"

"There are grain shortages-"

"What about meat? You have livestock do you not?" Peter demanded, his patience starting to run thin.

If the Undying Queen wants him to help lead her armies, then he wants to know what he's working with in terms of troop quality which was just poor at the moment with the humans and he doubts the Vampires will be much more when he sees them later tonight and there's the shortage of supplies.

"We do but-"

"But what?" Peter interrupted the vampire who glared at him for doing so which in turn caused the spider powered man to step close to his face, showing that Peter stood a good several inches taller than him "Wipe that glare off your face 'boy' or I'll rip it off and strap it to one of your men's shields after I drag you into the light and watch you burn"

The vampire lowered his head while the other two looked less than pleased to see one of their own threatened by some mere human. Slightly stronger than the rest, but a lowly cur to them all the same.

Peter was about to say more before his attention was drawn to a nearby horse that was whining as a conscript tried to feed it. Peter than glanced back at one of the Captains "Is your Calvary conscripted or undying like you all are?"

"The higher stations belong to us. The humans are little better than meat shields for our enemies to exhaust themselves on while re-remain in reserve, fresh to cut them down, not that it'd make a difference since there isn't a thing in this world that could ever stop us" the captain that had Peter's attention spoke in a cool tone.

"Uh-huh…" Peter said as he looked up at the sky and saw it was only midday and he still had several more companies to inspect before moving on to the hopefully more competent vampiric forces.

"This is going to be a long day…" Peter said with a drawl as he glanced at another company, this one armed with more shields and a larger variety being of the same shape and size.

…

Peter let out a relived sigh as he splashed cool water in to his face after spending the better part of the day evaluating and testing over seven different companies and the archers the army of Ur had that weren't occupied by the nightwalkers.

Safe to say, he was considering demanding his weight in gold, armor included with what he had to work with.

' _Still, it could be worse…'_ Peter thought as he looked outside his tent to see that it was dusk, the first company of an all nightwalker unit would be here soon.

He dunked his head into the basin of water more time before he reached for a rag to dry himself with when he heard the voice of Bel, and Peter's mood dropped slightly.

"My Captains tell me that you are less than impressed with the Undying Queen's army" Bel said as he stepped into Peter's view with a unimpressed look on his face.

Peter stared at the older yet younger looking man before he shrugged as he wiped the rest of the dirt off his face "Who wouldn't be? Half your men look like they're about to collapse any moment now because they aren't getting enough food"

"The shortage is being addressed" Bel said with narrowed eyes.

"Not fast enough Bel" Peter said indifferently.

"That is General Bel to you wrench" Bel snapped with narrowed eyes.

Peter turned towards the man with a scowl "I'm not a member of your army Bel, your rank means shit to me at this point. You just happen to be the man that's going to benefit from me hopefully taking your army at the behest of your Queen and making it better than it already is… much better"

Bel gritted his teeth at the man before another vampire entered, a Captain based on his attire. The thin looking vampire looked towards Peter after casting a nervous glance between Peter and Bel, sensing the tension between the two "The first company is here…"

"Good" Peter said as he tossed the rag on the table and picked up his helmet before sliding it on "Let's see if the conscripts' masters fair better than them eh?"

Peter followed the Captain out of the tent along with a scowling Bel and were greeted to a company of over three hundred nightwalkers all fully clad in armor and armed with matching shields, curved swords, and spears. Peer nodded in approval, as he paced in front of the men who were all watching him with covered hungry eyes.

Peter smirked as he felt the tingling in the back of his head "SHIELD WALL!"

The nightwalkers moved quickly and silently, like shadows in the night with the only sounds being their shields clanging together as they formed a rather impressive shield wall on the front and even the sides.

Peter stared at it for several moments before he suddenly launched himself at the supposed undying troops of Ur. Peter felt the tingling in the back of his head increase by a margin as he rushed the wall before slamming into it with more force than he did with the conscripts.

With the humans, Peter was able to make it pretty far through their lines, at least four and some of them he could cut all the way through to the other side, but here he barely made it to the second line before he was shoved back by three Vampires before the wall reformed itself. Peter stumbled back slightly before he regained his footing and nodded in approval.

"Finally, some descent fighters…" Peter mumbled as he glanced at the Captain "Be honest, are these your very best men or all of your companies like this?"

"…Bit of both" the Captain coughed while Bel stood beside him, his arms folded as he watched Peter carefully.

"Heh.." Peter chuckled at the man's answer as he turned back towards the nightwalkers "Back into lines!"

They didn't argue or hesitate as they silently broke apart and reformed tight orderly rows as Peter approached Bel "Well if what your Captain here is saying is true, then I guess it's not your people I have to really worry about too much. Still, I'll have to look at your usual battle tactics to see how I can change them in light of what I've learned about your men. Just using your conscripts as cannon fodder won't work forever, they need to be actually armed and fed like your favorites here"

"They aren't frail and meager like humans" Bel stated indifferently.

Peter nodded at this before he folded his arms in front of his chest "Well if that's true, how come you and your men can't go in sunlight but we can?"

Bel's response was a light growl as Peter chuckled in response "You know that's the one thing I've never understood about your kind baring a few chosen exceptions like your Queen. You claim that your better than humans and yet you can't go in sunlight like they can, we outnumber you by a large margin and you can't go longer than a day or so without feeding unlike a typical man who can go what three or even four days if not longer if pushed-"

"What are you getting at boy!" Bel nearly shouted out in annoyance and rage as his men watched the scene unfold in silence with a vast majority hoping that their General will kill what they think is a slightly stronger human or let them do it.

Peter's eyes narrowed under his helm as he quirked his head to the side "Maybe you should realize that your whole kingdom hinges on these 'meager humans' before one of your enemies do first… you'd be surprised how many empires fall to a bunch of lowly peasants…"

Peter then turned on his heel and gave Bel a nice view of his retreating back as he approached one of the Captains and gestured him to follow Peter "So Captain, tell me about your Calvary units, what am I looking at in terms of numbers and armament?"

Peter didn't need to be turned around to hear Bel's fist tightening with his hearing. And he didn't need see the glare the man had aimed at his back but he still couldn't help but chuckle in amusement.

"Heh, sorry Bel but I've faced better, beaten better and butchered better than you before I laid with my first woman…"

…

"Ooh. Oh this is perfect. Lower now. Right… there!" Arkhalla moaned as she laid bare on a cloth covered stone slab while her new slave massaged and rubbed her back.

Earlier this evening over a dozen men from Tibira had come unbidden despite her edict. Apparently, the grain shortages were becoming a far larger problem than she originally suspected and in the end ordered several men to go to Tibira and return with lord Izdubar's head and that of his council with the headache they've caused her because of his over indulgence.

After she had the peasants killed for breaking the law of course…

Afterwards she had returned to the inner parts of her palace where she is now receiving a rather nice almost sensual massage.

It was then that Arkhalla notice that the boy's hands had stopped and were no longer on her body. She opened her eyes and glanced at the man with a scowl of annoyance before she flashed him an amused grin "I said lower, not stop. If you don't like having your hands on my back, perhaps you would prefer the lash on yours"

The boy swallowed nervously as he returned to rubbing the immortal woman's back "No Undying Queen…"

Arkhalla smirked at this, she could practically taste his fear in the air "Ah. So you have learned the proper way of addressing me without the lash. And you have good hands. That shows promise"

She then laid her head back down on her arms and let the boy do his job as she let her mind wander for a time, almost losing herself to the pleasure the man was giving her with his hands before he suddenly spoke.

"Why-"

"Now, now" Arkhalla chided him playfully even though there was an ever so subtle threat in her voice as she looked over her shoulder at him with a coy grin "I gave you no permission to speak"

It was than the boys hand reached just above her rear and began to press down which caused her to let out a moan "Ooh. But you have me… in a good mood. Go on…"

The boy was silent for a moment before he finished his question "Why did you show me mercy?"

Arkhalla's eyes opened at that as the boy continued to rub her back. After several tense minutes, she finally gave an answer with a light-hearted laugh "I keep you alive boy… do not mistake that for mercy"

She then laid back down and let out a content sigh as the boy began to work on a kink in the middle of her back after spending the better part of an hour bent over backwards in her rut with Peter "Men fear me, so I give them something to fear. The world is like that. A corrupt vicious circle"

The boy frowned at this "What does this have to do with me?"

"You are a break in that circle. As long as that amuses me, I shall keep you" Arkhalla said before she turned towards the young man with a curious look "Boy. Such a trite name, don't you think? What did your parents call you?"

"…Shamath" the young man said after a few moments of hesitation.

Arkhalla hummed at this before she picked up the faint footfalls of someone in armor. She grinned as she then picked up his scent and not a few moments later she heard his voice before he appeared in her field of vision.

"Undying Queen…" Peter gave her a slight bow.

"Peter…" she grinned as she propped up her head with one of her hands "I hope your day inspecting my troops was fruitful"

"It was something" Peter said as he removed his helmet and rubbed the back of his head "Your conscripts are… well I'll be honest, they're an embarrassment my queen. How you've won so many battles with them making up the majority of your force I'll never know"

"They used to be better" she giggled before she moaned as Shamath began to work on her thighs, coming dangerously close to her womanhood which was starting to wetten a bit at the sight of Peter seeing her in such a state.

Peter hummed at that before he tossed his helmet back and forth between his hands "Your Nightwalker units are actually good. Not up to the same scale as the Legionnaires of Latveria or the Silver Hoplites of Symkaria, but more than adequate compared to some of the armies I've either fought for or against"

"I'm glad you approve" Arkhalla said as she felt her arousal growing at seeing the latest center of her desires so close while she had someone else's hands rubbing her in places that she hoped Peter will do… soon.

Peter continued on with what he's seen, even though he was beginning to smell Arkhalla's… excitement which was starting to cause certain parts of his own body to react.

"I've had your Captains begin to have the conscripts trade their weapons and shields to form better more fitted units. Least now when your enemies seem them, they actually look a bit like a professional force instead of a bunch of farmers and beggars thrown into service at the edge of a sword or worse"

"I take it you will need to do more than just have them outfit each other with the proper equipment to make them more adequate?" Arkahlla gasped before she gestured for Shamath to stop and leave.

Shamath looked more than willing to leave his obviously aroused queen and her latest consort, he was beginning to grow uncomfortable having his hands on a woman when her apparent lover or whatever he was at the moment was standing right there, watching them. In truth, Peter wasn't bothered by it, he's not courting the Queen, ergo she can do whatever or whoever she wants.

Arkhalla on the other hand, had other ideas as she sat on the slab and spread her legs so the man could see her pussy, which he stared at while she rubbed a finger around it before she had two fingers part neither her lips while her other hand began to grope and tweak her nipple "Perhaps we can discuss what still needs to be done about my army afterwards… mmm?"

Peter stared at her for several moments before he slowly began to remove his armor while Arkhalla licked her lips in hunger.

…

* * *

And done.

So next chapter, lemon obviously and Peters more members of Arkhalla's court.


	5. Chapter 5

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **DarkJoey** : No, he wont.

 **Spawn Hades** : No, it's not a harem story, there will be the occasional threesome but that's it. It's complicated and I can't say without giving away spoilers for the later part of this story but he won't be becoming a king or anything. I won't say she'll be sleeping with other men so much as she'll be teasing them, like Bel and maybe Shamath just because the latter might amuse her. Technically it would be awkward if the main pairing was those two but Peter is still sleeping with other women on the side, even though we'd all just gloss over that little detail because yeah, Spidey fuckin rocks!

 **superspiderfan** : They'll be a few threesomes with Peter, Arkhalla and another woman but it's mainly Peter and Arkhalla.

 **Yo** : Ehhhh he will for the first third of this story and maybe a bit at the end but that'll be it. His role in Arkhalla's life has been replaced with Peter.

 **gunman** : We'll be getting a bit into Peter's backstory next chapter and more on who and what the Order of Aranece and it's warriors were as the story progresses. But for comparisons, they were like the Spartans of their day, the Seal Team Six, or the Roman Legionnaires. Basically, a military fighting force that was nearly unrivaled and unmatched and we'll hear some of their accomplishments including how they were practically destroyed ten years ago from Peter as he explains what they were exactly. A few of those Spiders will show up, won't say who or when but they will in the latter half of the story.

 **CRUDEN** : It's not radiation that gives him his powers in this story, but we will find out what it is later on when he begins to explain more about the Order he once was part of and all that, origin included

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

Arkhalla let out a throaty moan as she was turned on to her hands and knees as Peter climbed on to the stone slab with her and brushed his tip against her folds while one of his hands ran up her side before coming back down to her rear and giving to a hard slap that caused her to yelp before she responded by slamming her rear into his hips, causing the tip of his cock to slip into her tight center.

"Ooh yes…" Arkhalla moaned as she felt Peter pull back a little before thrusting more of himself inside her, causing him to hiss at the tight grip she had on his prick.

"By the gods you're the tightest woman I've ever been in" Peter gasped out as he secured Arkhalla's hips with his hands and began to trust into her core.

"A-And your… the b-biggest I've taken" Arkhalla moaned as the sounds of her rear slapping against his pelvis filled the room on top of the two's moans.

Peter ran his hands up and down her back as his hips slammed into her rear, sending ripples across the smooth surface while Arkhalla's breasts would move in tandem with her body, back and forth as Peter took her. The two were so distracted they didn't notice Bel had stopped by to speak to Arkhalla about the preparations for their army's march on Carcosa, only to glare at the spectacle that Peter and Arkhalla were displaying before he turned on his heel and nearly stormed out of the chamber as Peter suddenly flipped Arkhalla on her back and began to thrust into her with even greater force than earlier.

Arkhalla responded by wrapping her legs around his waist as her hands ran up and down his back, rubbing the muscles rippling as he exerted an inhuman amount of strength as he pounded her to the point it almost hurt the Undying queen which made it all the more pleasurable to her.

"Yes… yes… ooh yes…" Arkhalla moaned as she planted a series of small kisses and bites on Peter's face as he had one of his hands trail down and grip her rear roughly as he continued to fuck her.

Arkhalla could feel her release coming and just as she was about to come undone from Peter's actions, she suddenly flipped them over so that she was on top, coming dangerously close to rolling them both off the slab and began to rock her hips back and forth at a fast past, riding him for all he was worth..

Peter grunted as he ran his hands up Arkhalla's sides and gripped her tits and squeezed them before she took his hands with her own and placed them on her hips as her rocking became more erratic and both her's and Peter's breathing increased.

"Yes… yes… yes" Arkhalla breathed as she felt herself cum on to Peter's tool while he thrusted up into her tight snatch with a growl before he sat up and caught off the Queen's gasps with a sloppy kiss that she was more than willing to return as she wrapped her arms around his neck as he fell back down on his back, his hands tracing up and down her back before he gripped her ass and gave each cheek a loud powerful smack.

Arkhalla yelped into the kiss as their tongues battled for supremacy with Arkhalla slowly winning the battle as she used a combination of decades of experience and a few underhanded tactics to keep up the upper hand. Still Peter was far from a novice and made up for his obvious inexperience with enthusiasm and natural skill.

The two spent what seemed like hours rolling around the slab, losing themselves to the other's body and actions until it ended up with Peter standing up on his knees on the slab with Arkhalla holding on to him as he raised and dropped her on his shaft, his tip hitting her cervix and her juices dripping down and pooling under the two's abused sexes. Peter nipped and licked the space between her neck and shoulder while she nibbled on his ear when she wasn't moaning and almost screaming into his ear as he fucked her like an animal.

Her lust, both for sex and blood was high and before she could stop herself, she bit down into his neck hard and began to suck on his blood. Peter winced in pain and responded by thrusting into harder and harder until he was pounding her with enough force to shatter a regular human's pelvis.

After several minutes Peter reached up and grabbed Arkhalla by her hair before he suddenly ripped her off his raw neck and before she could say anything, he bit into her neck until the skin broke and began to drink her own blood in return.

The action caused Arkhalla to see white as a flaming orgasm hit her as if she was set on fire, only instead of pain she was experiencing almost nigh unrivaled bliss and ecstasy.

Peter growled as he felt her grip on him tighten while he maintained his grip on her with a combination of his teeth digging into her neck and his adhesive hands clinging to her bare body as Arkhalla rode out her orgasm on him before she finally grabbed him by the neck and forced him off only to slam her mouth into his, tasting a mixture of her own blood and the small amount she still had in her mouth from when she bit him.

After several minutes, the two broke the kiss and both gasped as Arkahlla had another orgasm and Peter felt his building with every thrust into the beauty before him. Finally, just as it seemed he was about to cum inside the queen, he pulled out and took her by head and forced her lips around his tip just as the first sinews of cum erupted from his cock.

Arkhalla moaned at the taste of his fluids mixing with the blood still in her mouth and began to happily suck it out until his ejaculation ended. She gave his cock several more hard sucks before she released him and opened her mouth to show him a small amount of cum and blood were still in her mouth before she let it drip from her tongue and on to her sweat covered breasts.

Peter let out a shaky breath as he leaned against the stone slab, his body covered in sweat as he tried to get his breathing under control while Arkhalla sat on her knees while she trailed a finger around her torso to gather up the cum mixed with blood and suck it off her fingers with a satisfied sigh before looking up at him with a grin.

' _I doubt I'll ever find an equal… but for the moment, he'll do'_ Arkhalla thought as she leaned in and kissed Peter's still hard cock before she took him in her mouth again and begin to bob her head up and down.

…

Peter had to hold in a yawn as he made his way through the nearly empty streets of Ur in the early hours of the day several hours after his latest rut with the Undying Queen.

Shopkeepers and merchants were starting to make their way to the markets to sell their wares and the few Nightwalker guards still on duty were beginning to make their way back to the barracks where the human conscripts would take over.

Peter at the moment rather liked the peace and quiet, the stillness of the air. Peter could never understand why he liked these moments, he normally chalked it up to the spider like qualities he had, though a few in the order often jested that Peter was just shy.

' _Heh me, shy… that's a good one'_ Peter thought as he turned down a street and just passed by an alley when he heard a whimper.

Peter paused in his stride before he glanced down the darken path with a curious expression. After a minute of not hearing any more whimpering, he was about to resume his trek when he heard the faintest shuffling of movement in the dark. He didn't feel the tingling in the back of his head so whatever it was, wasn't a danger to him at least not yet.

His eye sight quickly adjusted to the darkness as he stepped into it, allowing him to see as if it were midday. He scanned the alley for a few moments before he heard the whimper again and he saw it was coming from a small hole in the wall. Peter carefully approached the source of the whimpering.

' _Based on the size of the hole and that the whimpering sounds human, I'm going to say it's a child'_ Peter concluded as he crouched before the hole and looked inside and was greeted to a small, very thin pale young boy covered in dirt and rags.

The boy saw Peter and began to whimper more as he tried to push himself further into the wall, causing Peter to sigh as he held a hand out "I'm not going to hurt you kid…"

The action of raising his hand caused the boy to flinch and begin to cry which in turn caused Peter to sigh in annoyance _'This is why I don't have kids… well that and I haven't found a woman good enough to give me some…'_

After a minute of holding his hand out, Peter grew impatient and instead reached in for the half-starved thing and grabbed hold of a twig like arm before he dragged the now screaming and struggling child out and into the darkened alley.

"Would you be quiet? I'm trying to help you" Peter scowled at the but as he tried to pull himself free of Peter's grip before the man finally released him and watched the child stumble to the ground in surprise.

Before he could make a run for it, Peter shot out a small webline that pinned the child's arm to the ground and caused him to shriek in surprise before Peter placed his hand over his mouth to cut off his screaming "I said be quiet!"

The boy stopped at that as he stared up at Peter with wide terrified brown eyes.

"Thank you…" Peter said with a nod as he pulled his hand off the kid's mouth "Now, would you mind explaining why you were hiding in a hole in the wall?"

The child didn't answer right away and to be honest Peter didn't think the child would after a few minutes of tense silence passed. It was just when Peter was about to just say 'to hell with it' and let the little thing go, maybe with a few gold coins for his troubles, when he spoke in a small shaky voice.

"I-I… I was h-hiding…" the boy said.

Peter quirked a brow at this "Hiding… from who?"

"…Them" the boy said as he looked towards the entrance to the alley just in time to see several Vampiric guards pass by on their way to the palace as the sun began to peek over the horizon.

Peter followed the boys glance before he hummed "If that's the case, then you're doing an awful job at it. This city is filled with them and they all have good hearing… good sense of smell too"

The child shivered at this as he tried to curl in on himself as Peter stared at him for a moment before he sighed and reached over to gently tear the webbing off his arm "Come on, lets at least get you something to eat"

The boy looked beyond terrified of this, or at least the thought of going out in the open in this city "But the monsters-"

"Won't bother us" Peter said as he helped the kid up and began to push him towards the mouth of the alley "Trust me kid, these Vampires, are the least threatening thing in this city now"

"How?" the boy asked, still unconvinced this man could keep him safe.

Peter glanced down at the boy and smirked darkly behind his helmet "Because I'm now here…"

The boy stared at Peter for a moment before he nodded and stuck close to the man as they entered the street that was starting to fill with people as they made their way down to the market where he can find something for the boy to eat. Based on his condition, Peter doubts he'll live another week like this.

' _Assuming of course, he's not eaten by then'_ Peter thought as he looked down a street to see several men and women standing around a bloodied body of a slave that seemed to have gain the attention of some nightwalker's last night.

Peter angled his body so that the child won't see it as they began to pass the various market stalls, many of which had little food on them which in turn caused Peter's brow to twitch _'Well there goes my suggestion of taking food from the populace to feed the men…'_

After a few minutes of walking, the duo came upon a small yet surprisingly well-maintained tavern. Peter gestured the boy to follow him inside who began to squirm and whimper, much to Peter's confusion.

"What? It's a tavern, not a slave pin or blood den" Peter said with a frown aimed at the boy.

"Monsters…" the boy said as he backed away only to bump into a passing conscript who scolwed at the boy.

"Oi, watch where your going" he gorlwed at the scared boy before he saw Peter standing there.

The conscripts face paled as he gave the man a bow "M-My lord…"

Peter grunted at he waved the man off while he reached down and picked the child up and began to caryy the struggling boy inside for some food and maybe a place for him to stay. After making it inside, Peter soon understood what it was that had the now still thing in his arms spooked.

Vampires… over two dozen of them all sitting in the darkened corners of the room, watching him or more specifically the boy in his amrs with hungry expressions.

'Too late to leave now…' Peter thought as he gave the blood suckers around him a brief glance before making his way over to the counter where a woman dressed in barely anything more than bindings flashed them a grin, or well Peter a grin. The boy just got a brief pitting stare.

"Whatever's hot and for a human to eat and some water" Peter said as he dropped a few silver coins he had on him "Keep any 'additions' that your masters usually have added out of both"

The woman took the coins before she nodded and turned to leave while Peter escorted the child over to a seat where it was in direct sunlight peeking in through a window "Sit…"

The boy obeyed without question as Peter leaned against the table and proceeded to remove his helmet and set it on the wooden surface and looked around to see that most of the Vampires went back to minding their own business while a few continued to watch Peter, one in particular caught Peter's gaze as they sat on the second floor of this building.

' _ **Captain Rab… of the royal guard'**_ a tiny voice whispered into Peter's ear.

Peter very slowly turned his gaze towards his shoulder and was met with the sight of one of his Black Widows resting in the crevice of his armor. He turned his attention back towards Rab and saw the grizzled Vampire staring at him with a narrowed expression that Peters come to recognize as a cross between displeasure and anger.

' _Then again, I am sleeping with his queen'_ Peter thought with a chuckle as he gave the man a slight wave which caused him to glare at Peter before returning to his drink while the spider symbolled man discreetly had the Black Widow crawl into his hand before placing it in a small pouch on his belt.

"Thank you…" the boy next to him said as he had begun to dig into the meal that was brought to him by the woman who had flashed Peter an inviting smile as she walked away with a sway in her hips.

"Your welcome" Peter said as he watched the woman go and felt his face contort in slight disgust as he saw her sit on the lap of a rather large Vampire that looked to have nine meals a day without pause.

He repressed a shiver as he saw the sultry bar maid began to suck on the man's nipples ' _There are just some things that no man should ever see… let alone know exists!'_

"Why did you help me?" the boy asked with a whisper as he ate the small amount of meat and bread given to him.

Peer thought over the answer as he gazed around the tavern before shrugging "Had nothing better to do until midday…"

"Oh…" the boy said with a saddened expression that made Peter almost regret what he said…

' _Almost…'_ Peter thought as he adjusted his seating on the end of the table and waited for the boy to finish probably his first real meal in weeks.

He wasn't a cruel heartless man, but Peter has long since come to care for only a mere handful of people, people he would trust with his life and this boy, wasn't one of them. Still, that didn't mean he wouldn't help him, pointless as it may be given that an apparent homeless malnourished orphan won't last long in this city of all places.

' _I hate to say it… but I doubt the boy will leave to see the end of this week'_ Peter thought as he glanced at the child and saw just how truly skinny he was, the food he was eating won't make a real difference and neither with the money that Peter will give him when the child finished his food and drink either.

' _Still… I can at least give the boy one last good day…'_ Peter thought as he gestured for another woman passing by, the first now providing oral pleasure to the overweight Vampire not too far away, for a drink of his own as he sat down in front of the boy and waited for him to finish.

…

* * *

And done

Next chapter, Peter and the forces of Ur set out to Carcosa.


	6. Chapter 6

Answers to reviewers questions or statements:

 **chimera629** : For now, let's just assume that there are herbs or something that Arkhalla takes to prevent pregnancy. The thing that gave Peter his powers has for the most part made him immune to contracting Vampirism.

 **Adtr509** : This will without a doubt be my darkest story yet, which is saying something given my other ones. They haven't hired me because I'd probably demand a bit too much, plus I don't seem them printing half the stuff I'd write either for their What if… and DC Elseworlds stories. Read the story and have to say, I like the idea of having Peter go through something similar.

 **Stratos623** : Most Vampire queens or evil-ish queens in general usually are.

 **Spawn Hades** : I actually have plans for young Gwen, but she won't be seen till towards the end of this so you can imagine the barmaid as her if you want… won't be too far from what she'll be. She doesn't seem in an equal in the sense of brutality, authority and I guess him still being Mortal, she knows he's stronger than her but that bit of Vampiric pride still resides in her. Maybe, but Peter is sort of at the age and mindset in life where he's not looking for that kind of life if he even wants it. For now, their relationship is strictly physical, sure they get along well enough but neither at the moment is looking for a significant other. Peter's bitter about life for another reason which will be shown or explained soon but it does involve someone he did care about. The other reason he's bitter is just because of the crap he's seen in his lifetime, in this day and age, you need to be harsh, thick skinned and dark to live long enough.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

In the darkened city of Attilan ruled by the silent king, a large cloaked man ran through the streets, behind him was a small trail of crimson blood. His labored breathing seeming to echo through the empty streets. For hours now he's been running, trying to find a way to lose his gaining pursuers but each attempt was met with failure, and his attackers were able to bring him that much closer to death, but he was no ordinary man, he was once and still is a warrior of Aranece and he will not fall like some common peasant because of a little blood loss.

But a warrior knows when a battle is lost, when to keep fighting is pointless. There is no glory, no honor in a pointless battle-

"OOF!" the man coughed as he fell to the ground, the loss of blood now taking a hold of him.

It was than a voice spoke up through the dark streets of Attilan, it's wispy tones echoing off the stone and wood of the buildings, making it seem that the voice was coming from everywhere at once.

" _ **Look dear brother, he has fallen… it appears our sister's dear poison has begun to finally run it's course"**_

The voice was soon joined by another, lighter but no less malevolent and dark **"Or… my wounds are beginning to take their toll on him. Powerful he may be, but he is still a man at the end of the day… a man that bleeds like all the rest of this world's cattle!"**

The other voice responded as the cloaked man tried to stand only to be suddenly kicked in the side and sent flying into the side of a building with enough force to cause the stone to crack _**"Oh come now Thanis, why can't you give our dear sister Mortia the acknowledgement or credit she deserves?"**_

The cloaked man looked up to see two figures standing before him, one in grey robes with the hood pulled over so only his glowing red eyes could be seen while in each hand he held a small ax that were wet with his blood and that of the blood of the Attilan guards that tried to aid him against these… creatures.

The other, Thanis was clad in black armor that looked vaguely similar to the armor of a Hoplite, but the face was completely covered, leaving one to wonder how he can see. Thanis casted a brief glance towards his brother **"Because Malos, I'm not sleeping with her"**

Malos chuckled as he began to approach the cloaked man as he drew a curved white knife that glowed in the darkness _**"Fair enough, though if you merely asked, she'd have no qualms spreading her legs for you…"**_

" **And that is why I will not, I want my partner to have some fight in them"** Thanis stated as he and his brother watched the cloak man rise to his feet before shrugging off his cloak to reveal he was clad in silver armor with a large red spider on the torso that had it's legs wrap around his shoulders and waist towards his back. The armor was covered in dents, deep bleeding gashes, specifically around the chest and sides and there were small bits of metal sticking out of him that had a strange blue liquid emanating from both them and seeping into the wounds they had created.

The sliver clad man had the metal around his mouth seemingly melt away as he spat out a glob of dark red blood before he spoke in a deep baritone voice "W-What… are y-you?"

It was Thanis that answered as he saw the large silver clad man lean against the wall for support **"By the time it takes for me to finish explaining to a human like you what we are, my brother and I will have already killed you, returned to our sister who was nearly killed by you and have our way with her and already setting out to hunt down the next warrior of Aranece before our other siblings get to them first"**

The silver clad man growled at them as large serrated claws erupted from his fingers "You… will fine… my brothers of the sword… more difficult to kill"

" _ **Oh I doubt that, after all you were once considered the strongest of their number and yet here you are, bleeding out on some backwater street in the middle of the night"**_ Malos chuckled as he began to approach the large man before leaping towards him with a roar.

To his surprise, the large silver man snatched him out of the air by the throat and slammed him into the ground before he threw him towards Thanis who casually side stepped his sibling. Not even wincing at the sounds of Malos crashing through several buildings and startling it's residents.

" **Heh… so the fabled Goliath still has some fight left in him I see"** Thanis said as he drew a short sword that seemed to be made of pure darkness as he approached Maximus the Goliath of Aranece with a cautious step.

Maximus collapsed to his knees, breaking his fall with his hands as he found his vision blurring, a combination of tremendous blood loss and the poison the witch they had with them earlier finally taking it's affect "Y-You will fail… my brothers… will find you… they will avenge me!"

Thanis quirked his head to the side at this as he raised his sword that seemed to grow and absorb the shadows around it **"Perhaps… but the same could be said of my family as well… little spider"**

The last thing Maximus saw was Thanis's blade flying towards his head before his world went dark.

…

"My Queen, I think… that your General Bel want's me dead" Peter said as he stared at the white horse given to him to ride as Arkhalla and her men prepared to leave for Carcosa just haours after the sun had set.

"Oh… how so?" Arkhalla said as she adjusted her golden plated armor, a far cry from the sensual and provocative attire she normally wears while her chariot was outfitted with a large golden bat on the front was being readied by several slaves under the watchful eye of their Vampiric master who was grooming the grey horse that would pull it.

Peter glanced at the monarch before gesturing to the pale white horse "Everyone knows you aim for the white horse in a fight. Half the time it's because it's being ridden by someone important who is the person you normally want to kill in a battle. Why do you think Death is often associated with The Pale Horse?!"

Arkhalla hummed at this as she attached her sword's scabbard to her waist before making her way towards her chariot as her driver waited "I'm sure you'll be fine Peter. If you can survive the Battle of Manda-Han, then our victory over Carcosa should be easy"

"Victory?" Peter said with puzzlement as he took the stallion's reins and followed after her "Already calling for it before the first battle?"

"With Bel's strategies, your improvements to our troops these past few weeks and you yourself, I believe that nothing short of divine intervention on our enemies' behalf will stop us" Arkhalla said confidently as she climbed on to her chariot as her legions began to march onwards from the city towards Carcosa.

"Careful Undying Queen… kings and queens in the past have fallen from such hubris" Peter advised as he climbed on to his horse and adjusted himself and his gear as the horse snorted as it began to follow after Arkhalla's chariot.

"Not hubris my dear Peter, confidence… and if the gods are being even more generous with me, luck" Arkhalla flashed him a grin as she slid on her helm and her rider slapped the reigns for the horses drawing their chariot, causing them to break out into a full-on gallop, leaving Peter to watch her go before he began to chuckle as he saw the Undying Calvary of Ur assembling and angled his steed towards them.

"Can't help but admire her confidence…" Peter said with a chuckle as the Undying commander of these men, a rather old Vampire that according to Arkhalla hailed from the far east and was clad in a armor set that showed such lineage, gave him a slight nod.

"My lord…"

"Nobu" Peter nodded towards the man as he looked at the assembled three hundred horsemen "Are your men ready?"

"Yes…" Nobu said as he and Peter signaled their horses to follow the thousands of men marching on into the night.

Peter glanced over the rows and columns of men and Vampire alike as they rode past them. He was pleased to see that his adjustments to the troops, mainly on the conscripted side, had paid off.

' _They actually look like soldiers now… conscripted yes, but soldiers all the same'_ Peter thought as the army marched on well into the night across the vast plains surrounding Ur before they began to approach the dessert that separated Ur and Carcosa.

Peter frowned as he did a few mental calculations and realized that it would take Arkhalla and her army the better part of a week to cross the dessert and that was if she pushed her forces to the brink each night. A week to cross a barren dry wasteland with little to no cover for her nightwalkers, little food and water for the humans outside the supplies brought with the army and worse of all, it left them very exposed to the elements.

Most people would think that the heat of the dessert during the day is what made them so unforgiving and they'd be right… to an extent but to Peter in his experience as a mercenary and when the Order of Aranece was still around, what he discovered was really dangerous for an army traveling through the dessert was how little natural resources for them to use were available.

An army numbering close to a hundred and twenty thousand men, not including the hundreds of slaves for the vampires to feed on, was a very large resource demanding entity. Plus, there was the feeding of the animals like the numerous oxen and horses that either pulled the army's wagons, chariots or made up the Calvary units…

' _Let's hope Arkhalla has a plan… or her campaign is going to become much more difficult than it already is…'_ Peter thought as he kicked his heels into his steed and have it keep pace with Nobu's as the army of Ur slowly made it's way into the dessert and towards Carcosa.

Hours passed as the army steadily made it's way across the barren landscape with thee only source of light being from the occasional torches lit by some of the companies, the stars and the half full moon over them. After some time had passed, Peter decided to strike up a conversation with Nobu, if nothing else to help elevate his boredom.

"So Nobu… what brings you this far west?" Peter asked as he adjusted his position on his horse that he has decided to name Ezekiel, in honor of the Order of Aranece's founder.

Nobu glanced at Peter for a moment before he grunted "The emperors of my homeland have begun to purge my brethren. Staying would be a death sentence"

"Oh… well I guess that's a good reason to leave" Peter said with a cough.

"Plus… there are very few strongholds of my kind around anymore. Arkhalla's is considered by most to be the most powerful" Nobu said as he gazed out over the army and mentally compared them to his countrymen's forces.

"True… very true" Peter commented, it was rare anywhere now a days to find such a powerful Vampiric stronghold.

Over two hundred years ago they numbered in the hundreds from vast sprawling empires like Arkhalla is building to small little covens in caves or castles. But ever since the death of the self-proclaimed rulers of the Vampiric Dynasty almost a hundred years ago by a man that was called the 'Day Walker', Vampirism has been in a steep decline from a combination of infighting, purges like what's apparently happening out east and well people just no longer fearing the children of the night.

' _Plus… my order may have had some hand in some of the larger, more powerful Vampiric strongholds when it was still around'_ Peter thought with a grim chuckle as minutes became hours before the army finally came to a stop in the shadow of the Yonder Ridge.

The sun would be up in a few hours and even if that wasn't a problem, moving in daylight in a dessert was rather difficult, especially to a man clad in either leather or metal armor carrying weapons or supplies.

Peer left his horse with the rest of his Calvary unit's towards the eastern section of the camp and began to slowly make his way towards the center where the Queen had already had her tent set up and that of her highest ranking officers like Peter or Bel and Nobu.

The rest of the Vampires on the other hand…

"Dig you stinking wrenches! You call yourselves men? We don't have all-night!" a Vampire screamed as he cracked a whip at several conscripts digging 'Sun shelters' which to Peter looked to be nothing more than glorified holes in the ground.

As peter passed the men digging the sun shelters and propping up the mound above it with wooden posts, he made out a few comments from the men being forced to dig for their masters.

"Damned leeches. We ought to stop digging and let them all fry at sunup!"

"Shut up! You want your head on a pike?"

Peter chuckled as he made his way towards Arkhalla's tent, passing more sun shelters and tents being made. Just before he saw and entered Arkhalla's tent, he passed a feeding station for the conscripts who had finished their duties and frowned at what he heard.

What do you mean where were ye? Digging those blasted pits, that's where!" one of the three men growled in anger.

"Give us some bread at least!" another cried towards the food distributor.

"Can't. The barley's rationed" the distributor stated.

' _Looks like that food shortage is coming back to bite this army in the ass'_ Peter thought as he entered the tent to see that Bel was already there and speaking with the Queen.

Neither had seem him yet so he decided to stand back and let the two talk. It may give him some valuable insight of their relationship, never know when such information may come in handy later on if Bel proves to be a bigger problem than Peter already suspects the becoming if not reigned in more often by Arkhalla.

"I thought I told you to fix this" Arkhalla said with a glare towards Bel in regards to the food shortages plaguing her kingdom these past few weeks as she folded her arms across her armored chest.

Bel sighed at this "I replenished the granaries and restored the normal rate of supplies from Tibira, yes. But my queen, most of the grain was rotten. Izdubur's men-"

"Don't tell me I'm still paying for that idiot's mistakes!" Arkhalla snapped in anger "Just answer me this: Do I still have a war?"

"As I live and slay, yes" Bel nodded as he took a step closer towards the Queen, a familiar look in his eye that Peter has seen before in others and couldn't help but chuckle, it appears the General fancied the Queen more than a simple night of rutting… interesting.

"We're issuing strict rations to the conscripts… enough to keep them honed and sharp. We'll have more for them after the first victory against Carcosa. Do not distress yourself my Queen" Bel said in a low tone as he was now inches from Arkhalla, forcing her to look up to meet his eyes "You'll have your war, and win it"

"What do you think you're doing?" Arkhalla asked in a equally low tone as Bel leaned in, their mouths only inches apart.

"We're alone" Bel said, ignoring the fact that Arkhalla's slave Shamath was tied to one of her tent's posts and unaware that Peter was watching all of this with both amusement and annoyance "There is no need to pretend"

It was then that Peter stepped forward and announced his presence as he removed his helmet to show that he was serious "You are right Bel. This tension between you and I must be addressed. I am willing to explore and see where this could take us be it for good or ill, if you're willing that is?"

The sexual tension between Bel and Arkhalla broke as Bel glared over his shoulder while the Undying Queen chuckled as she took a step back from the man to give herself some space.

"Why are you here?!" Bel growled at Peter as the man tossed his helmet at Shamath who caught it with some difficulty, it was heavier than he expected it to be.

"As I said General Bel, I'm here to speak to you about this tension between us" Peter said as he tried to not laugh at the man as he took a step closer "I've seen the way you look at me, how your eyes follow me. Why if I didn't know better Bel, I'd say your smitten with me"

At this Arkhalla began to laugh and even Shamath had to fight to keep from laughing while Bel glared at Peter's smirking form, his fist tightening to the point his nails broke his palm's skin and began to bleed.

"I hold no such delusions towards you, creatine! I'd rather spend every waking moment in complete agony than ever look or think upon you in such a way!"

Peter feigned hurt at this "Oh Bel, how you wound me with your words"

"I'll wound you with more than just words!" Bel shouted as he drew his sword and held it at the ready, causing Peter to activate his arm blade.

 **SNIKT!**

The tension in the tent was high as the two held each other's gaze with a steely look before Arkhalla spoke in a cold and commanding tone "Enough!"

Peter grunted as he sheathed his weapon while Bel continued to glare at Peter and looked to be on the verge of leaping at him and killing him or die trying before Arkhalla grabbed his arm and nearly crushed it with her grip "I said… enough!"

Bel glanced at his ruler for a moment before he lowered his blade and sheathed his sword. At this, Arkhalla released him and gestured him towards the tent's flaps "Your excused my General"

Bel starde at Arkhalla in slight surprise that it was him being asked to leave. After several moments he nodded as he stalked past a still smriking Peter before xiting the tent. Peter watched the man go before looking back at Arkhalla.

"I must say, it's so fun to-"

 **SMACK!**

Peter was cut off by a sudden slap from a unhappy Arkhalla "Do not thing Peter that just because I let you in between my legs, that gives you the right to treat my men in such a manner. I am not asking you to be allies, but I prefer a modicum of respect at the very least, am I understood?"

Peter nodded as he rubbed the spot where she hit him, it's been a while since he's been hit that hard, Gods only knows how painful a full powered punch from her would be.

"I apologise your majesty" Peter said with a slsigh bow.

Arkhalla waved it off as she stalked away from him "You show your apology by having your alterations to my troops gain me victory in the coming battles"

"Which they will" Peter said as straightened himself "Granted, having them put the movements into application in a actual battle when all they've done them in is drills will be the deciding factor but I'm confident they will pull it off"

"Good… your excused for the day" Arkhalla said as she began to remove her armor and prepared for sleep. While she could survive in sunlight unlike the subjects she turned personally who can just barley stand it, she was tired and scolding both of her highest-ranking officers at the moment has left her seeking comfort in her bed tonight rather than in the arms of either.

Peter nodded at the queen before he turned on his heel and made his way to the flaps while raising a hand and shooting off a webline towards his helmet resting on the ground next to Shamath and yanking it towards him and into his hand just as he passed through and into the early morning sky, the sun rising within the hour.

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, Peter has his first taste of combat with the legions of the Undying Queen's armies against the forces of Carcosa.


	7. Chapter 7

**Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:**

 **gunman:** They're still together, she just got a little tired of his antagonizing everyone around him thing and needed some time to herself. Besides she won't risk distancing herself from him if it runs the risk of him leaving, at the end of the day it's all about keeping him around more so for what he can do for her outside sex like help her win wars. Yeah but there aren't very many, like a handful survived and well now their being picked off one by one by something.

 **KasugaRomio:** Peter will soon be seeing other bits of Arkhalla's personality besides her playful and take no shit attitude.

 **Spawn Hades:** Yeah that was to sort of show that yes, she's sleeping with him but at the end of the day she is his sort of Queen and she's in charge, not just some woman he's sleeping with. And he'll be seeing more of Arkhalla's more malevolent nature.

 **George Edwards:** No, it'll stay in this era. Maybe, still figuring out the end of this thing.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used**

 **Beta Reader: The Undying Will**

* * *

Right now, Peter was worried, well, maybe not worrying but definitely concerned as he stood in Arkhall's tent along with several other of her officers a little over two days later after they entered the dessert.

As it turned out, Carcosa anticipated the army of Ur's movements and had sent a force of over twenty thousand men to stop them who were now camped just a little twenty miles away.

Now, twenty thousand men against a force of roughly one hundred and twenty thousand sounded like a slaughter waiting to happen but when over three quarters of that larger force is made up of conscripts, many of whom are either ill equipped or poorly fed and their officers and more elite troops can only move and fight at night, whereas most fighting happens in daylight, the odds begin to stack in the smaller army's favor by a lot.

' _Plus, these aren't conscripts, they're professionally trained soldiers which means better weapons, armor and far more actual training then what I've been running these men through the past few days…'_ Peter thought with a frown as he watched the Undying Queen laminate over what she's been told by her top scout and member of her inner circle, Narama.

After several minutes of silence Arkhalla glanced at Peter. "Do you believe our conscripts can hold their own against this army, Peter?"

Peter thought it over for only a few seconds before answering with a flat tone. "No my queen, half the force would be dead within the first hour of fighting and after that, their route and they'll be picked off by the hundreds. If your men had a few more months of training and we're in better fighting shape at the moment then yes, I'd be a lot more hopeful that they'd hold their own and maybe even win. We'd lose a lot of men still, but it won't be a complete slaughter and defeat."

Arkhalla hummed at this as she stared at the map of the dessert with a knife imbedded in it that showed where her army was and a small stone with Carcosa's symbol on it to signify where their men were. After several moments, Arkhalla closed her eyes as if in deep thought while Bel glanced at the map with narrowed eyes.

"I'm willing to wager they'll wait until daybreak before attacking. And attacking them now would be disastrous given the sun will be up in a hour and it'll take our men both Undying and human to cross that distance."

"We could try pulling back, leave a small force to slow them down and tire them out." A Captain suggested.

"You volunteering, captain?" Peter glanced at the thin faced Vampire with a raised brow.

"No... I perhaps you would, given that you can lead our men in daylight." He replied.

"You'd trust a human, capable as he is, to lead our men for that long?" Sin asked with a frown, not because he was against a human leading their forces but more of because he wasn't blind to their forces' disadvantages at the moment and while he concludes that Peter is an adequate leader, he'd still have to lead nearly an entire army by himself with very few officers to help distribute his orders.

Finally, after a few moments of various people going back and forth on what to do with this recent predicament, Arkhalla opened her eyes and answered. "We attack at dusk."

Sin frowned at his leader. "But my queen, I doubt Carcosa will be willing to let us attack then, in fact I'd be downright surprised if they don't attack us during the day where they'll have the advantage."

Arkhalla smirked as Peter felt an eerie crawl up his spine and if what he was seeing was true, so too did the others as it sounded like the wind picked up outside and Peter could faintly here the distressed whines of the horses' oxen and other beasts of burden the army came with.

"Do not worry Sin… they won't be able to."

"What makes you say that?" Bel asked with a frown

"You'll see…" Arkhalla waved them off as she settled into her seat with a thoughtful look on her face.

Peter was curious to what the queen had planned and thought of asking before he thought better of it and trusted that she knew what she was doing. If not, the worse that'll happen is he gets killed by a bunch of Carcosaians.

But as Peter and the rest left the Undying Queen's tent, returning to their own quarters, Peter couldn't help but look to the east and saw something that caused him to pause in his step.

It was a sandstorm… a massive sandstorm that was easily a mile high and dozens of miles deep. Peter didn't move as he watched the massive storm approach the camp before it eventually washed over and Peter had to fight to remain standing as the area was blanketed in a darkness that almost rivaled the dead of night.

' _How… convenient…'_ Peter thought as he felt that eerie feeling again before he shrugged it off and made his way back to his tent, taking longer than usual given he was having a hard time seeing in front of him but the sand wiping the bits of his body that weren't armored sure did motivate him to move faster.

…

It was near midday that Peter quickly realized that this sandstorm wasn't natural, granted the fact it was so unusually massive and lasted for hours now was clue enough but given that it hasn't moved since covering the camp, Peter was convinced that someone, something was apparently keeping it here either through some sort of dark magic or somehow earning a god's favor.

' _That'd be a first…'_ Peter thought as he sat in his tent, cloaked in darkness as he stared up at the moving fabric of his tent with a bored look after spending the past few hours sleeping. _'A god actually trying to help someone win or at the very least give them one hell of an advantage over his enemies.'_

Peter wasn't a religious man, partly because he never found anything that could ensnare him like others and partly because Peter's long suspected that whatever gods did exists and he's sure there's quite a few, they could well and truly care less about anyone but themselves.

' _After all, where were the gods at Manda-Han?'_ Peter thought with a bitter expression as he laid there, deep in his own thoughts. _'Where were the gods when my comrades died… when the city burned… when my br-'_

"Are you awake?" A woman's voice echoed through Peter's tent as the flaps were briefly pushed opened and some of the sand from the powerful storm gusts outside made their way in.

Peter let out a sigh as he answered. "Yes, who is it?"

He turned as the figure entered his tent and Peter could finally make out her features…

"Narama?" Peter said with surprise as he sat up. "What are you doing here?"

"Carcosa has sent several scouts into the storm. You, me and several others shall make sure they can't report back to their masters." The vampiric beauty said in a cold voice that was oddly alluring yet terrifying.

Peter stared at the women for a moment before he nodded "I'll join you in a few minutes. Let me get my armor on."

"Do hurry…" Narama said as she gave Peter one last look that looked to be a cross between lust and contempt before she exited the tent and back into the roaring storm outside.

Peter stared at where she was for a moment before he grunted and stood up and approached the small chest that Arkhalla gave him to house his armor and began to silently place it on with years of practice before he checked the mechanism that activated his arm blades several times for each limb before he tore a small piece of fabric off his small bed and wrapped it around his arms and activated the blades again several more times before he nodded

"Probably going to have to dismantle and clean these things regardless, but at least it won't jam up to badly out there" Peter said to himself as he slipped his helmet on when he caught sight of a small pouch that fell out of his pack when he was retrieving his armor. He stared at the pouch for a moment before he picked it up and placed it back in, he won't be needing what's inside, not yet anyway before he silently exited the tent and had to hold back a wince as the grains of sand impacted against his armor and the spaces between the plates.

He glanced around and saw a few Nightwalkers wandering the camp thanks to the storm blocking the sunlight out to the point it was almost like nightfall in here while a large number of conscripts likely took cover in their tents to both sleep for the coming battle and to avoid being buried by sand.

Peter then turned and began to slowly make his way towards the edge of the camp where he figured Narama and the others were waiting and if not, well he can always claim he got lost in the storm.

' _Can't see farther than sixty feet, so I'm not lying completely.'_ Peter thought with a chuckle that was drowned out by the sounds of the sandstorm raging around him as the powerful gust of wind caused the tents to teeter and waver against their wooden poles and some pots and pans that were lying about small cooking pits for the conscripts were blown about.

After a few minutes, Peter finally reached the edge and saw that Narama had gathered a small force of what looked to be thirty humans and five Vampiric officers, all armed with bows and a full quiver of arrows. Narama saw Peter's approach, her mouth covered leaving only her piercing stare visible. Peter had to repress a shiver of desire and slight fear as he stared into her cold eyes, they didn't seem quite as brutal as Arkhalla's but there was something in her gaze that he couldn't quite identify that her mistress didn't.

'Best not to delve too deep then, don't want to risk waking whatever lies beneath.' Peter thought as he nodded towards the scout. "So where are these scouts?"

Narama held his gaze for a moment before she gestured for Peter and the rest to follow her. "This way, come before they make it out of the storm and into daylight."

Peter stayed closed to Narama as he followed her into the roaring winds of the sands with their small party behind them for several minutes until they came to a medium sized dune and Peter could just faintly smell and hear what sounded like over a dozen men on the other side through the storm. Peter along with Narama and one vampiric soldier silently crawled up towards the dune's summit before looking down and making out the faint figures of Carcosa warriors wandering through the storm, seemingly lost and trying to find their way out.

The three watched them for a few minutes before Narama spoke. "Lieutenant, take half the men and move in behind them, have the rest split into two groups. One up here would be with me and the rest will be with Peter as he attacks from the front."

The vampire nodded before he crawled back and slid down the dune as Peter and Narama continued to watch the men for several more moments.

"So, any prisoners or kill them all?" Peter asked as he glanced at Narama as he waited for an answer while he could faintly hear the man shouting out orders and questions if they were near the edge of the storm yet. Peter almost felt sorry for them and a decade ago he may have tried to petition for their lives, but that was then. Now, Peter couldn't really find it in himself to truly care whether they were spared or not because at the end of the day, this really wasn't his war unless the gold he's been getting from Arkhalla stops flowing.

"I doubt they know anything of value, plus I'm feeling hungry and our slaves now don't seem as appetizing compared to a young healthy warrior such as them." Narama said as she watched the men not with some sort of dark lust, but like a wolf eyeing its prey before it attacked, fangs at the ready to tear into warm flesh and spill the crimson liquid beneath.

Peter stared at her for a moment before he nodded. "Alright then… just remember to aim, I don't fancy taking an arrow to the knee."

"If I do hit you with an arrow Peter, it won't be the knee. It'll be the head." Narama said as Peter pulled away and gestured for the men to follow him as her group came to stand by her, drawing their bows and notching the first arrow before taking aim through the sandy winds that seemed to clear just enough for a proper target to present itself for them, as if something was aiding them.

Peter signaled the men to stop and lie low as the small scouting party approached them, still seemingly unaware they were being surrounded by a group of vampires, half-starved humans and a warrior of Aranece.

Peter watched as the apparent leader of the group was about to shout out something else before an arrow lodged itself in his neck, cutting off his command as he let out a gargled choke as blood poured from both his mouth and the wound.

"Now!" Peter said as he activated his arm blades and rushed the men in a blur as another volley of arrows hit them, some of the deadly missiles pinning men's feet to the ground or landing in their legs, forcing them to their knees before Peter was one them, one of the blades held back before it was plunged into the chest of the first Carcosaian.

The blade met little resistance from the leather armor and Peter watched as the man let out a pain gasp as he stared into the lenses of Peter's helm as blood began to leak from his mouth. Peter didn't make a sound as he tore the blade from the man's chest, a small stream of blood shooting out as a result as he turned and blocked the sword of another before an arrow hit his back and Peter capitalized on this and rammed his other blade through his side up into the chest cavity, piercing vital organs and causing major internal bleeding before Peter pushed him off his blade.

He turned to see the remaining Carcosaian's trying to use their shields for cover but they could get a fix on where the arrows were coming from. Some hit them from the back, some form the front and the rest from the side. Plus, now that Peter was cutting down one man after another, they felt trapped.

Peter approached one man who had an arrow in his leg and shoulder and before he could turn to see the deadly warrior behind him, Peter stabbed him through the back, the blade erupting from his chest with a small river of blood pouring from the wound and staining the armor and the sand. Peter with his enhanced hearing could hear the man's pained labored breathing, the increase of his heart beat, the flow of blood rushing out of the wound and for a moment, for a single second, he felt...

Alive, like a sort of rush that could and couldn't be explained as he pushed them an off his arm blade, his flesh making a wet tearing sound as it slid along the metal before it was free and collapsed to the ground. Peter stared at the body for a moment and without turning his head, raised his arm and blocked a ax from one of the few Carcosaian's that haven't been killed by the arrows yet before he turned towards the man with a slight glance.

The man, young, possibly around Peter's age when he first saw combat, paled as he held Peter's helmeted gaze. The metal painted in wet blood with sand clinging to it as he slowly pushed his arm and the man's ax down before he slowly reached over and turned the man's head to the side and was rewarded with a wet cracking sound and let the body slump as he looked to see Narama had joined the more close quarter combat with a long knife and watched as she grabbed a man's hand that was armed with a sword and stopped it from hitting her before she jammed the curved blade into the underside of his chin and right into his kull, the tip of the blade emerging from the back of his skull and blood pouring from both ends.

Narama watched the body jerk for several moments before she tore her blade from his head and let the body slump to the ground and looked to see one man had somehow avoid the arrows and Peter's onslaught, rushing towards wheat he possibly thought was the edge of the storm and to his comrades. She quirked her head to the side as she made a few mental calculations before she suddenly threw the knife through the air and watched as it hit the man right in the center of his back, causing him to let out a pained scream as he fell to the ground face first.

The vampiric scout began to approach the man and chuckled slightly as she saw him trying to crawl away before Peter was suddenly on him, his armored boot pressing down on his head before suddenly.

 **KRAKKK!**

Narama watched with a sort of dark fascination and annoyance as the man's head seemed to give under a combination of Peter's inhuman strength and wright and caused his skull to crack and split and for a combination of brains, blood and bone to tear through the skin and spill out on to the sand. She watched as the body seemed to twitch slightly while she approached the freshly made corpse and rip her blade from his back, she had to pull with a bit more strength given it was imbedded in his spinal column before she held the knife up and pulled the face mask down to expose her mouth and gave the blood a small lick before she spat it back out with a look of distaste.

Peter watched this with an interested expression. "Not good enough for you?"

"Too much liquor in his blood. Spoils the taste and gives it a bitter tang." Narama said before she dragged a finger across Peter's armored chest, picking up small streams of blood tricking down the metal before she placed it in her mouth and let out a hum of approval.

"Much better…" She said as she glanced back at the bodies being searched by her men "Now which one was it?"

"Don't you prefer fresh blood?" Peter asked as he kneeled down and wiped the blood from his arm blades on to the man's tunic beneath the leather armor before sheathing them with a barely audible click.

"I do, but sometimes I find aged blood to be rather… delightful." Narama said with a smirk thrown towards him before she continued towards the now dead Carcosians.

Peter watched her go for a moment before he shook his head. "She's way too disturbing to even bother trying to lay with…"

…

* * *

 **And done.**

 **Next chapter, we see Peter's induction into the Order of Aranece and the first major battle of Arkhalla's campaign.**

 **Expect lots of blood, gore and violence.**


	8. Chapter 8

Answers to reviewer's questions or statements:

 **treyalexander63917** : Ehh more of a he's just efficient at killing people, brutal yeah but efficient.

 **Spawn Hades** : Peter's in his late mid to late thirties and as for old Normy apparently having killed Ben, you'll have to wait and see.

 **Guest** : It's a play on words, besides blood might taste better to a vampire if its still 'fresh' or 'warm'.

 **Mezazra** : It's going to get very violent soon enough, especially when the army finally reaches Carcosa.

 **CRUDEN** : No, mainly because I really wouldn't know what to do with them in here.

 **KasugaRomio** : Here's hoping I can pull off the backstory pretty well that shows Peer's life that got him to this point. It won't be many, just a few snippets that give a general idea and not all will be flashbacks, most of his backstory will be through his conversations with Arkhalla. Nah, Peter's arm blades are attached to his armor's gauntlets but that does give me an idea for something else though.

 **gunman** : Nah, for now it's mainly Spider-man centered people that'll show up, I might hint that or tease that Black Cat exist in this world but she won't be appearing and if it does, it'll be nothing more than a cameo. Don't want to risk losing focus on the main characters, Spidey and Arkhalla.

 **George Edwards** : They'll be a few more Skyrim references, keep an eye out!

 **Cyclopz** : It's a bit of both but I think having a Beta, whose pretty good, helps a lot. Or you've grown used to my subpar writing skills, either one.

 **Dr. Sugarcakes** : They might try, but Peter's loyalty is more towards Arkhalla, mainly because she's the one paying him and he might see Narama and her allies' coup as a threat to that. Plus, Bel hates him and Peter has no real personal stake in what goes on Arkhalla's court, he just wants his money, somewhere to stay for a while and afterwards he'll be hopefully on his way to wherever life takes him next.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

 _"B-But I don't understand… their only four!" a woman with short brown haired clad in old worn brown and grey rags said to a far larger large man standing before her and her husband clad in silver armor with a large red spider symbol on his chest._

 _Maximus the Goliath quirked his head at the woman "Yes… but the lord of our order senses great potential in these two… I would not waste my time here if that weren't the case my lady"_

 _He nodded towards the two young boys watching the scene play out not too far away in the safety of their family's hut on the outskirts of a small field that their parents were tending to until this large man on an equally large armored horse appeared and stated that they were chosen to be inducted into the Order of Aranece._

 _Even all the way out here on this small farm in the middle of nowhere, the man and woman have heard tales of the warriors of Aranece and their accomplishments since they were founded almost four hundred years ago by a man named Ezekiel._

 _The woman, Mary had often jested that her sons will one day join their tanks only for her husband Richard to scoff and state that only those they consider worthy will ever be graced by such an honor. To jest about such possibilities is one thing, but to actually have it come true is quite another and Mary has found that she doesn't want her boys to be taken away, to be raised into such men as the one standing before her and her husband. She wasn't sure she'd recognize them by that point and it frightened her to her very core._

 _Richard stepped forward nervously, his straw hat being clutched in his hands tightly as he gazed up at the large armored man, having never seen anything like him before in his life "But why so young? Why can't you come for them when they are men?"_

 _Maximus gazed down at the thin man before he grunted "Because they become men as they grow within the order… no offense intended frail one"_

 _Richard glared at the man's words while Mary glanced at her two sons Peter and Kaine with worry. They seemed to be staring in awe of the man before their parents, having never imagined a man like him could exist and until today, Mary was of the same mindset. She then turned towards Maximus with fear._

 _"I-I won't let you take them, they are just children, they barely know how to read, or even write. How can they be of use to your order?" Mary said, she hated having to make her sons so daft but if it meant keeping them from being taken, she'll just have to beg the gods for forgiveness afterwards._

 _"That is of no concern, the order has plenty of teachers to aid them in that regard" Maximus waved off her concerns._

 _"But what about-" Richard began only for the words to die in his throat as Maximus stepped forward, further showing the sheer height difference between the two before the large man spoke in a low tone._

 _"Be grateful I'm even telling you of such an honor. Most would have just taken your boys and be done with it. But I am of a mind to grant you the knowledge that your sons will bring not only honor to your entire family, but honor to the Order as well"_

 _"To hell with your honor!" Mary screamed in outrage "They are my children and I will not allow you to waltz on to my home and let you-ACK!"_

 _She was interrupted by Maximus grabbing her by the throat and lifting her into the air while he smacked Richard away with a causal flick of the wrist. Mary tried to pry the man's hand off her throat but found her attempts unsuccessful._

 _Maximus brought her face in close to his covered one and growled "You are trying my patience woman, I am leaving here with or without your sons. Either you can say goodbye to them and live knowing they will return when they are men or I can kill you and your husband now and bar you from such a privilege!"_

 _Mary tried to pry that man's hand off her throat but found that she could barely even get one of his fingers to budge. Finally, after several moments she gave up, tears welling down her face._

 _"Please, they're my sons"_

 _Maximus stared into her eyes for several moments before he grunted "So be it…"_

 _He drew a small dagger from his belt and prepared to run it through the woman before he felt something collide with his head. He paused and slowly turned to see that both the boys had ventured out of their home and were each holding stones in their hands, or one was, the other only had one, indicating he was the culprit. Maximus quirked his head at them for a few moments as the other threw a rock at him, this one landing on his head before it fell to the ground with a light thud._

 _Mary stared at the man in horror, thinking he would now slay her children before she heard something from him that confused her, it was laughter._

 _"Heh, you two are either very brave or very daft to challenge someone like me with a simple stone… I'm beginning to see what my master sensed in you" Maximus said as he dropped Mary and approached the two boys and before either could react, they were swept up in his arms and were then carried to the horse._

 _"No!" Mary rasped out as she tried to follow him but could barely stand. She looked towards her husband only to gasp in horror as she saw the odd angle the man's neck was and the lifeless look in his eyes, it was clear to her that simple flick the man gave her husband had broken his neck. The sight of her dead husband and the shouts of her sons calling for caused Mary to push through the pain and try to rush the man only to see a small knife fly toward her face before her world went dark._

 _"MOMMY!" Peter shouted as he saw the knife land squarely between his mother's eyes as she fell back with a thud on to the muddied ground._

 _Kaine saw this and for a brief moment was stunned before he let out a animalistic roar and redoubled his efforts to break free of Maximus's grip. The large man took notice of this and frowned as he neared his horse and suddenly slammed Kaine's head into a metal plat resting on the stallion's side, knocking him out and causing Peter to start whimpering as Maximus looked down at him with a hidden frown._

 _"Do not fret boy, all have lost their parents when they joined the Order. You will not be alone in your grief and if it helps, you and your brother may one day avenge your parents' deaths… assuming you live that long"_

 _The last thing Peter saw before his world went dark was Maximus dropping his brother on the saddle and his now free hand coming towards his head in the shape of a fist._

…

"Are you well?"

Peter jumped slightly as he found himself sitting in Arkhalla's tent looking at the map still on the table. He glanced towards the Queen as she was being helped fitted into her armor by her slave Shamath, the sun was about to set soon and it looks like the army from Carcosa didn't pull back, not that it'd matter anyway.

' _I suppose they want to try and wipe out as many off Arkhalla's men as they can, give their home a better chance at-'_

"Peter!" the queen's voice cut through his train of thought like a blade through flesh, causing him to shake his head and refocused his gaze on the Queen's frown.

"Sorry, my mind was elsewhere" Peter said as he went back to looking at the map.

"Will this be an issue in the coming battle?" Arkhalla asked with a frown.

"No, no" Peter waved off her concerns "Besides, I'm good at shutting down parts of my conscious that will prevent any other thought or feeling aside from killing the opposing army's men from distracting me"

"Let's hope so, I'd rather you not die from a sword to the chest because your mind was distracted" Arkhalla said as Shamath finished tying the straps for her breast plate.

"Well then it's a good thing my armor is more than sturdy enough to handle a average blow from a sword" Peter said with a grim chuckle before he pushed himself off the table "I'll be in the center where most of the fighting will be. Maybe my presence there will cause your conscripts to fight harder"

"I'm sure the promise of more food and water if they win will be motivation enough Peter" Arkhalla chuckled as she picked up her helmet and slid it on and secured it to her head before retrieving her sword and a few daggers "And I did have my captains let slip that the women of Carcosa will be there's as well…"

"That might help… but after today, your men are going to get a firsthand look at what happens when I'm… angrily violent" Peter said before he gave her a nod and turned and left her tent as the rest of her army was already preparing to move out.

Men emerging from their tents, rested and ready for battle along with their vampiric officers and more elite troops who looked eager for the taste of blood tonight. Peter chuckled at the hungry expressions he passed as he made his way to his tent and opened the flaps to see steam rising from a small pot he had sitting in the middle with several red-hot burning coals around it.

Peter removed the lid before he caught a whiff of a bitter almost sour like odor from the pot and made a face "Yep… it's done alright"

He left the pot open as he picked up a small spoon and stirred the liquid contents inside for several moments before he raised an arm and shot off a single web line to a small water skin and yanked it towards him and removed the small cork with his teeth before he carefully lifted the hot metal pot with one hand and poured it into his water skin that was being held by the other for several moments before he stopped and set the pot down on a pile of sand to cool while he closed up the water skin and attached it to his waist.

"Half should last me long enough out there" Peter said to himself as he buried the coals in a small hole of sand before leaving his tent and following the legions of men, both conscripted and vampiric towards the edge of the camp where they were marshalling before their steady march towards the edge of the sandstorm where on the other side, the men of Carcosa waited.

Peter was mildly pleased to see the conscripts forming into lines before their masters said anything. He had to stifle a chuckle as he saw that quite a few paled at the sight of him as he silently marched through the rows and columns of men until he eventually reached the front that was occupied by the spear men in place of hoplites with swordsmen companies on in-between each of the spearmen units.

Behind them were men armed with bows and arrows with a small sword hanging from their hips. Bel and a few other officers were a bet wary of having archers so close to the front lines but Peter argued they'd keep the front from being overwhelmed too much and if worse comes to worse they can retreat behind the vampiric company behind them.

' _Well at least Arkhalla has made sure that behind every conscript unit is her 'Undying men'. Close enough to the front that they can quickly lend aid to their more mortal soldiers and behind enough to keep Bel and some of the others from bitching about letting the conscripts fight and exhaust the enemy first'_ Peter thought as he quickly removed his helmet and grabbed his water skin and popped the cork off before he took a deep breath and chugged a good portion of the still hot but bitter tasting liquid down his throat.

The heat and taste almost caused Peter to gag, despite doing this hundreds of times beforehand. He let out a cough before he then poured the liquid on his face, hissing from the heat and flowing into his eyes to the point it felt like they were on fire.

One of the vampiric officers saw this and frowned, both from the odor of the liquid and the action of Peter drinking and pouring it on to his face "What is that?"

"Bit of courage and something to numb my body a little…" Peter coughed as he slid the now empty water skin behind his armor's chest plate and slapped his helmet back on as he felt a rush of energy course through his body that started to cause him to shake. Peter took several deep breathes as the army was given the signal to move forward towards the edge of the sandstorm barrier, Peter could make out Arkhalla's chariot at the front with Bel not too far away on his own horse. Peter watched them go for a moment before he picked up the distance wines of the horses moving behind the army and towards both ends.

 _'Good, the cavalry units were moving into position on the army's flanks so they can hopefully rush around the enemy's army and cut off any chance of escape'_ Peter thought before he let out a cough as he followed the men towards the storm barrier's edge _'Lets hope those drills payed off because I really don't want to lose half the damn army here!'_

Several tense minutes passed before a horn was sounded and he could just make out Arkhalla give a rather terrifying roar that bordered on inhuman and the army broke into a run just as the sandstorm seemed to just move for them.

Even from here Peter could see many tense up at the sudden charge of the Ur soldiers from the now parting wall of sand and brought their spears to bear in an attempt to skewer as many men as they could.

Peter heard one of the officer behind him shout "Archers steady and fire!"

Not a moment sooner Peter saw hundreds of the small lethal metal tipped missiles race over his and the charging men's heads and into the Carcosain ranks, killing scores of men and forcing many others to raise their shields in defense while quite a few let their spears lower as a result or drop them and even shoot up into the air in surprise.

Peter activated his arm's blades just as he and the first row of spear men crashed into the Carcosan's ranks. The sounds of shields being struck and men already dying on both sides and blood spilling to the ground by the liters in seconds seem to fill Peter's mind as he rammed into several Carcosain shields, the force sending them tumbling back before he rammed his arm blades into each man. Peter tore his blades from the now dead men and pushed the wall of shields behind them with a grunt. Peter's world soon receded to just him and a large group of men before him, the rest of Ur's army and the Carcosain's they were fighting seemed to recede to the farthest boundaries of his senses as he began to swing and lash out with his blades.

He was met with the muffled sounds of men's screams as his blades carved out deep gashes in men's torsos or even outright dismemberment. Peter didn't seem to stop as he felt his head pounding and his heart racing as he sliced, stabbed and chopped what he could vaguely see were Carcosain men.

He wasn't sure how far he advanced into the enemy's lines before he felt the tingling in the back of his head and came to a stop and in a blur of speed dodged several swords and spears aiming for him, a rather difficult thing to do given he was surrounded and in such close spaces before he caught one with his hand and easily snapped the blade off with a flick of his wrist before throwing the damaged blade back at whoever was holding the other end before he side stepped a spear thrust, the tip just grazing his shoulder's armor in a small display or sparks before Peter jammed his blade into the man's face.

The Carcosain barely had the chance to let out a scream as the blade pierced the space between his nose and upper lip. A small amount of blood squired on to Peter's helm before he kicked the now dead man back into a group, knocking them down and allowing Peter to leap at them with his blades raised. He let out a almost animalistic roar as he landed on one man, the force of the impact completely destroying his rib cage and spouting blood from his mouth while Peter's arm blades found their way into the two men that were on each side of his makeshift landing platform. Peter yanked the blades from the dead or dying men and turned to block a sword to the back before he shoved the blade down with one arm and stabbed the man with another.

The next several minutes seem to be a blur to Peter as all he could see was the flashes of his blade in the pale moonlight, the sounds of men screaming followed by arcs of blood and the seeming unending clatter of wood against meta and blade against blade. Hours could have passed or maybe a few simple seconds, Peter didn't know or didn't care as he just let his body move in some unexplainable fashion, the tingling in the back of his head seeming to act as a guide from him. It was then that Peter's body seemed to freeze as another tingling sensation erupted through his head, this one far more powerful than the last.

The now blood-soaked warrior slowly looked around himself and saw that quite a few dozen men were backing away from him. Their shields raised and spears out pointing towards him as if they could keep him back. Peter frowned at them, they weren't what was setting off such a powerful feeling before he felt the ground shake slightly and began to increase in intensity. He then faintly heard something big and obviously heavy rushing towards him and Peter turned in time to see something that actually took him by surprise

"Well… you don't see that in every war" Peter said to himself as he watched a large armored Rhino of all things rushing towards him.

It wasn't uncommon to use large animals like Elephants as a sort of heavy cavalry unit, especially in regions that Ur and Carcosa are located in that had a plentiful amount of wildlife waiting to be tamed in such a manner. But to use a Rhino that Peter knows aren't common around here showed two things about Carcosa.

One, they've likely been aware of Ur's conquest turning towards them and have begun to import exotic weapons and armor and even a large manner of beasts for them to fight with.

Two, it gave Peter the opportunity to truly demoralize the men of Carcosa. Nothing screamed your doomed then to see something they've likely placed a lot of faith in getting killed in a fast and even brutal manner.

' _But first, I got to avoid getting skewered by this thing'_ Peter thought as he waited until the Rhino was close before he leaped clean over the large animal and saw that it's back like the sides were heavily armored.

He landed in a crouch and saw the Rhino kept charging until it rammed into the Carcosain lines that were trying to back away. Peter had to hold back a slight wince as he saw one man get trampled to death, his head giving under the large animal's heavy foot and another get impaled on it's horn before it was tossed off when the Rhino shook it's head. The action caused the Rhino to ram into more Carcosain men who were now ironically being killed by one of their own beast of war.

"A rhino?" the cool voice of Narama spoke up next to Peter, causing him to flinch in surprise "Quite an innovative lot, aren't they?"

Peter glanced at the woman to see she was drenched in blood, bits of flesh clung to her face and hands that were both armed with a sword and large dagger. Her bow was slung across her back and she was out of arrows. Peter stared at her for a moment before he turned his attention back to the rhino that seemed to sense Peter's gaze and turned towards him with a snort and looked like it was ready to charge.

"I'll be back in a minute" Peter said as he began to slowly approach the rhino as it let out a huff and broke off into a charge

Peter's body tensed as he watched the rhino grow closer and closer until it was just meters from him when he moved in a blur. His left arm blade slashed at the rhino's horn, cleaving the bone in half and causing the rhino to bellow in surprise and likely pain. Peter took his right blade and jammed it into the rhino's side as it passed by and left a deep bleeding gash. Peter watched the rhino come to a stop before it turned towards him with anger visible in it's eyes. Peter retracted his blades and held his hands out before him as the rhino charged again, this time fueled more by blind fury and waited until it was close before he charged head long into it.

' _This is gonna hurt…'_ Peter thought as he aimed low and waited until the very last possible second before he shoved the rhino's head up, the force of the action causing it's upper half to go as well and let Peter grab it by the throat and one of it's kicking front legs. He gritted his teeth as he dug his feet into the ground and pushed back against the struggling rhino, his muscles screaming in slight protest as he fought to halt the large animal's momentum cold.

After several feet, he was able to bring the two of them to a stop and held the rhino up for a large number of Carcosain and Ur soldiers to see before he suddenly tore his hand away from the rhino's neck, tearing flesh to the bone off and exposing the muscle underneath. The rhino let out a pained whine as it collapsed on it's side with a heavy thud, blood already pouring from the large gaping wound. He then lifted the slowly dying animal over his head and then threw it towards a large collection of Carcosain soldiers, many who began to break into a run at the sight of the flying rhino coming towards them.

Some didn't make it as the large beats collided with their ranks. Men were crushed under it's weight and others fell down at being nearly hit and were trampled over by their comrades. The rest seemed to be bolting before suddenly a large number of Ur's cavalry seemed to appear from the shadows themselves and run the men down, forcing them into a circle where the horse ridden vampires began to pick them off one by one with either swords, spears or bows.

Peter took this moment to look around and saw something similar going on through the blood drenched battlefield.

The Calvary seemed to have finally gotten around the Carcosain army and was now either funneling it towards the advancing Urian lines or picking them off before they can get far from the battle. Any others that somehow managed to make it past them were quickly being picked off by the archers.

And right there in the center of it all next to an overturned chariot was Arkhalla, her helmet missing to show her face drenched in blood, something Peter knows is not hers, and a blood thirsty grin etched on her face as she hacked and slashed any Carcosain unlucky enough to get close to her with Bel not too far from her.

Peter couldn't help but admire the woman, she was beautiful, charming and when it counted, had one hell of a mean streak and didn't seem to shy away from bloodshed, in fat it looked like she revealed in it as much as she does sex.

' _Heh… Kaine would have loved her'_ Peter thought as his mind for a moment drifted to his twin brother before he clamped down on the thought and looked around to see the more vampiric soldiers of Ur were mowing down line after line of Carcosain men.

A few of the nightwalkers fell to the occasional skilled or lucky blade of a Carcosain but the vast majority were being cut down and if what Peter was seeing was real, actually torn apart and devoured on the spot!

"Well… I guess we aren't taking prisoners tonight…" Peter said to himself before Narama spoke up again and just like before, causing him to flinch on how close she got.

"The complete loss of their army will demoralize them. Plus, it works in making sure we have fewer enemies to face when we reach Carcosa" the deadly scout said as she stood next to Peter and watched their men, both conscripted and immortal tear through the Carcosain ranks. Blood flew through the night air as the sounds of swords clashing and shields breaking was soon drowned at by the terrified and agonized screams of the Carcosains.

…

One hour and five minutes… it took the army of Ur, a force of over one hundred twenty thousand strong just over an hour to wipe out Carcosa's twenty thousand manned army.

Well technically it only took thirty minutes to route the army and have the archers and Calvary and a few infantry companies led by Narama spend the next thirty-five hunting down the fleeing soldiers, some who regrouped and put up a sort of last stand that was quickly crushed as fast as they formed.

Still the battle was not without it's casualties on Ur's side. Over ten thousand conscripts were killed and hundreds more wounded, almost half to the point they won't last till morning and will either die or be killed sooner and fed to their vampiric masters. As for the supposed undying men of Ur, roughly a hundred or so of them, both in the cavalry and infantry legions had perished as well.

But an entire army crushed and nearly wiped out was more than worth the losses in Peter's mind as he made his way to the Queen's tent. He looked down the hill she had her tent set up on to see hundreds upon hundreds of pikes with the bodies of the Carcosian army impaled on them, vultures and flies already picking at the still bloodied corpses.

 _'Thank the gods I'm upwind of that. The occasional drink of blood is one thing, but I'd rather not have to smell decomposing flesh for half a night and entire day until we move out'_ Peter thought as he saw Arkhalla's slave outside her tent, seeming to be cleaning her armor with a rag and basin filled with already bloody water.

Shamath paused in his cleaning to gaze up at the rows of dead men with a dark look before he muttered something that Peter was just barely able to pick up

"Monsters…"

Peter couldn't help but laugh out loud, the sudden sound causing the boy to jump "If you believe this is monstrous, then clearly you've never heard of Vlad the Impaler. The man could make impalement an art with what he did"

Shamath stared at Peter in surprise and slight fear, the moonlight and few lit torches gave his bloodied gore covered armor an even more fighting look in the dark. It didn't help that the white lenses seemed to glow in the dark and stare into a person's very being.

Shamath stared at Peter for a moment before he bowed his head and returned to cleaning Arkahall's armor. The action caused Peter to chuckle as he came to stand next to the young man.

"Relax boy, I'm not going to tell the queen your speaking ill of her and her people. She can see it clear on your face every time she looks at you" Peter said as he folded his arms across his chest and watched a vulture land on one of the corpses shoulder and began to pluck at it's eyes. The crows were also beginning to partake as Peter could faintly hear their ominous crows a little ways in the field of impaled soldiers

Shamath glanced at Peter for a moment before he resumed his cleaning, this didn't escape Peter's notice as he let out a sigh "Speak up boy, I can't hear other's thoughts"

Shamath seem to content to remain silent for a few seconds before he cautiously looked towards Peter "Why?"

"Why?" Peter said as he glanced down at the boy with a raised brow under his helmet "Why do I want to hear what you have to say or why I'm here still?"

"…The second one" the man said as he returned his attention to scrubbing the armor clean.

Peter watched him for a moment before he gave an obvious shrug "The gold the queen is paying me is good and she's without a doubt the greatest bedmate I've ever had. Why wouldn't I stay?"

This answered didn't seem to be the one Shamath thought Peter would answer with given the scowl on his face "So you've decided to stay, to help slaughter and butcher these men, and soon their loved ones because of gold and the queen curling up to your side every night?!"

Peter turned towards the man with a grimly amused expression on his face "What, you thought I was some noble pure heated warrior that would balk at such barbaric actions and renounce my allegiance to Arkhalla and turn against her. Maybe aid Carcosa in it's defense?"

His question was met with silence which caused Peter to burst out laughing "Oh, that is funny… I'm sorry little man but I'm afraid your ten years too late in trying to gain any sort or sympathy or regret out of me for choosing Arkhalla's side…"

It was then Peter's mood darkened slightly as memories of his past came to him, Manda-Han in particular before he spoke with a sort of cold detached voice "I learned the hard way what happens to a man trying to be a good person in this world. Your young, you'll understand soon enough, assuming the queen doesn't end up killing you"

"Death, sounds preferable then living in a world of monsters" Shamath said as he scrubbed off a bit of someone's flesh off the bottom of the greave.

Peter chuckled at this "Heh, I suppose the people of Lakar didn't put much effort into raising warriors if it's army was made up of like-minded men such as yourself"

"I'm no warrior. My family were farmers. The first time I picked up a sword was when her people invaded" Shamath said in a sad but angered tone.

"Farmers hmm?" Peter sounded as he continued to gaze out towards the impaled men with a distant look under his helmet before Arkhalla's amused voice spoke up

"Farmers, no wonder your people lost then"

Arkhalla had emerged from her tent dressed in a very revealing red dress that left little to the imagination. It emphasized every curve in her body as it moved when she did. It was also rather transparent to the point that Peter secretly wondered why she even bothered dressing in it in the first place. He wouldn't be complaining if she was completely bare…

Shamath's grip on Arkhalla's helmet tightened to the point that Peter and likely Arkhalla thought he'd turn around and chuck it at her but instead opted to take a calming breath and resume cleaning it of sand and blood "We fought, at least. We had people we cared for, and they cared for us. We had gratitude and love for each other"

Peter saw a flicker of something on Arkhalla's face it wasn't anger but before Peter could see what it was, it was gone as she closed her eyes and looked away with a slight frown on her face "These feelings… they can only make you weak. Or worse"

"I'm living proof of the worse bit…" Peter said as he brushed some sand off his shoulder "…You give too much love and kindness away to others and eventually you're going to find very little left in yourself"

Shamath glanced at Peter for a moment before he shook his head in pity "Then perhaps you never had much in yourself to begin with"

For a brief moment, Peter felt an uncharacteristic amount of rage build and he found himself actually fighting the urge to grab Shamath by the throat and crush it. Several moments passed as Peter silently willed himself to calm down before he let out a small sigh.

"Perhaps your right…"

Peter made to leave before he felt Arkhalla grab his shoulder. He paused and turned to see she was smirking at him.

"You fought well tonight Peter"

"I suppose" he said as he turned towards her with a questioning look, wondering where she was going with this or if she was simply praising his actions.

"And your alterations to my army seem to have ensured us a great victory, well done" she said as she had one hand trail over the bloodied spider symbol on his armor.

"I'm sure your people would have done fine without me…mostly" Peter said as he felt Arkhalla press herself into him

"Perhaps… but perhaps not…" she said before she began to pull him towards her tent "Come, I believe it's time I show you how much I truly appreciate your actions in service to Ur"

Peter allowed the dangerous beauty to pull him inside, but not before he casted one last look at Shamath over his shoulder. Even though underneath his helm was a blank expression, if one were to look into his eyes they'd see a deep and dark rage building within. Shamath seem to sense it as he tensed in slight fear before Peter's gaze on him was broken by the tent flap closing.

The young man stated at the tent for a moment before he silently turned back to his task, only to pause as he saw a small black spider with an odd red shape on it staring up at him.

…

* * *

And done.

So next chapter, the march towards Carcosa continues and Peter makes a new unexpected friend.

Also quick note, I'm sure quite a few of you went and read the comic this story is loosely following 'Queen of the Vampires' and are probably wondering about that little sub plot of Bel, Sin and others of Arkhalla's inner circle planning to overthrow her. Their still meeting and planning and all that, it's just I'm not sure if I'll be showing those events since it might take attention away from Peter and Arkhalla or seem random. But you can chek it out in the comic itself, the conversations and what not go pretty much as seen in the comic.


	9. Chapter 9

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **treyalexander63917** : Shamath's role is still small but it's that important kind of small role, like Darth Vader in Rogue One is the best way I can describe it. Just don't expect him to go all super sith on a bunch of poor rebel bastards.

 **Spawn Hades** : Interesting idea but I think I got an idea on how to have Black Cat appear. It won't be very flashy or anything but I feel it would do the character justice, which is more than I can say Marvel's doing with her at the moment.

 **George Edwards** : I wouldn't say their falling in love at the moment but more I guess moving towards being friends then just two people giving into their lust for each other. But yeah, I'm planning to have the two be together, together towards the end of this story.

 **Dr Sugarcakes** : He could try, but the main problem is that Bel doesn't like Peter and will be constantly suspicious of him and Peter will likely not get very far. Plus he's still an unknown and outsider as far as the rest of Bel's conspirators are concerned.

 **KasugaRomio** : Well the friend won't be human, so that level of unexpected I suppose. I was thinking of taking a few things out of the Troy movie with brad Pitt as Achilles for the siege portion of Carcosa. Peter would probably pick progress.

 **Yohart Meltz** : I have plans to have an Arkhalla, Peter and Narama threesome after this war against Carcosa ends, he just won't peruse a relationship with her.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or AHR characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

The army's march through the dessert towards Carcosa for the next few days was surprisingly uneventful aside from the occasional patrol that was quickly cut down. Peter wasn't too bothered at first, he chalked up the lack of defenses and sightings of large numbers of Carcosain troops being most of the army they destroyed earlier in the week.

But that didn't stop rumors from both the conscripts and immortals from traveling through the ranks. Some had merit to them and some were so outlandish that Peter had to struggle understanding how they could have possibly come to such a conclusion. But two struck out that Peter and even Arkhalla and some of her advisors like Sin and Bel put some weight into.

The first was that Carcosa was marshalling its forces for a possible counter attack only this time with a larger force which was possible given that Carcosa's army at its fullest extent was almost half as large as Ur's, well it used to be.

' _They're about twenty thousand short now… so baring them bringing in conscripts to fight, we're looking at a possible force of forty thousand men'_ Peter thought as he rode on his horse next to Nobu who had received a rather nasty scar to the side of his face by one very lucky Carcosain the other day.

They were both leading a small force of a hundred men ahead of the main army, scouting out for any possible obstacles that Carcosa could have erected to slow them down or make sure they weren't about to be ambushed.

Which brought Peter to the second rumor that he's heard and was now starting to sound more likely which was that Carcosa had pulled back it's army to fortify the city. Which meant that the siege was going to get very complicated very fast. After all, laying siege to a city with only a few thousand men to protect it was hard enough, but laying siege to a city with forty thousand men guarding it?

That could potentially be what breaks this campaign, after all they only have to hold out until daylight and then rush Ur's army when it's most elite and actually feared warriors are asleep.

' _And we can't just set up camp a few miles away because then we're left with the same problem of being attacked in the day and somehow, I don't see a sandstorm magically appearing out of nowhere to help us this time'_ Peter thought before he smelled something caused him to stop his horse, partly in surprise but mostly in intrigue.

Nobu saw this and was about to speak before it seemed he caught the scent as well and frowned as he looked up ahead of them "Smoke…"

"Yeah, and a lot of it, which means whatever's burning…. There's a lot of it" Peter said as he kicked the sides of his horse and it began to trot in the direction the smell was coming from.

It also didn't escape Peter's attention that the smell of something burning was coming from the same direction that a large town was supposed to be located where Ur was going to resupply…

…

"Well… this is unfortunate" Peter said as he stood next to Arkhalla while Bel, Sin and Arkhalla's spy master, Kuthan hung back, all mounted on their horses still while behind them was Nobu and over sixty vampiric soldiers. The rest of the army had set up camp half a mile away to the east. Before them was once a small but thriving town of several hundred people. It was mainly a farming community, this settlement supplied food to over half of Carcosa's lands and the city itself.

Now, it looked like a massive fire storm had torn through this place and reduced a good portion of the area to ash and charred remains. Based on the damage, this had happened perhaps only a day or two before they arrived.

Narama was crouching before a burned corpse and picked up a small spear head and examined it with a critical eye before she discovered something rather interesting about it's design.

"The spear is Carcosan. And so is he" she nodded towards the charred remains of what looked to be a young man at some point before he was set on fire.

"They scorched their own lands?" Arkhalla asked with a combination of amusement, disbelief and intrigue as she scanned the burned area carefully for any signs of the ones that did this or even survivors of this apparent massacre.

"Hmm, smart…" Peter said as he looked around "Burn the crops and animals to keep us from feeding your conscripts and kill the farmers and others that lived here to keep your undying legions from feeding as well"

"They must be even more desperate than I was led to believe" Kuthan said with a hum as he held out his arm for a large bat like creature to fly down and perch itself on it with a small bird in it's jaws.

"Well we did wipe out around a third of their army" Peter said as he kicked over a charred piece of wood and saw what looked to be a burned skull underneath it "Still this does somewhat work in our favor"

"How so?" Sin asked as he glanced at the man with a questioning glance.

"Carcosa wouldn't have been able to save all of the crops before burning this place. Which means they'll be suffering food shortages" Arkhalla said as she folded her arms across her chest with a thoughtful expression on her face "We could pull back and let famine sweep through these lands. The army will break up, riots will spread and we may even witness a civil war within the coming months"

"Then why don't we pull back?" Peter asked as watched the Undying Queen approach her horse and climb on to it in one fluid motion.

Arkhalla flashed Peter a smirk "I'm in inpatient woman"

She then turned her horse and had it take her back to the camp with Sin, Bel and Kuthan following. Peter gestured for Nobu to follow him and Narama into the charred village to search for anything worth salvaging. It was unlikely anything would be found, but it never hurt to look, the Carcosain army couldn't have been that thorough, could they?

…

"The men of bright Carcosa. Defenders of their land. Their people. Look at what they do to defend them Shamath" Arkhalla said with a chuckle of grim amusement as she removed her helmet while sitting in a small gold orientated chair "Retreating, faced with defeat, they slaughter the very same people. All to stop us getting fresh blood as we advance"

She chuckled at the last part as Shamath undid the straps on her shoulders and sides "And all to no avail. The advance continues. We can always kill a few more slaves if supplies run out"

"You call me blind, though you see nothing but the evil that men do" Shamath said as he pulled the chest piece over the Undying Queen's torso before setting it down beside her.

"Tell me what evil is then? A burnt village? A slaughter of innocents? The yearnings that make monsters of us all?" Arkhalla smirked as Shamath started to undo her greave's straps. She then leaned forward and caught the man's chin with her hand and smirked coldly at him "There are thousands of undying and hundreds of thousands of humans. Why haven't you risen? Why haven't you killed us all?"

Shamath didn't respond as he glared at the queen's face for several moments. The only sounds being insects and men further in the camp moving animals or equipment to be stored for the evening.

"Because deep down, humans fear for their own lives. And all that talk, about dying for others is just talk" Arkhalla said as she released Shamath's chin and extended her other leg out for him to remove her other greave "In your thinking is that not evil? Come, get on with your work now. It's been a long night and there are more to come"

Arkhalla chuckled as she watched Shamath go about undoing the straps as she turned her attention to the destroyed village and could just faintly make out the numerous forms of her soldiers moving in to secure and search the area for signs of life. If she looked hard enough, she swore she could make out the red glare of Peter's armor as the moon light reflected off it.

Finally, Shamath removed her greave and Arkhalla flexed her toes before she nodded in approval and stood up "Fetch me one of the slaves to feed on will you. I find myself hungry"

"Yes, Undying Queen…" Shamath said in a low tone as he got up to leave before he was caught by the arm. He turned to see arkhalla giving him a coy grin.

"And be sure to bring something for Peter. While he can survive on blood like me and the other Undying, I would prefer to feed him with something more human" she said as she released him before giving him a shooing motion.

Arkhalla watched him go for several moments before she turned and entered her tent before closing the flaps and removing her tunic to reveal her bare body. She wandered over to her bed before she sat on the edge and removed her crown and set in down on the small dais beside it and let out a sigh as she rested against the silk covers before casting a brief glance towards the unoccupied side with a frown.

She ran a hand over the space and for a brief moment imagined Peter still lying there. She could still smell his scent on the sheets as she curled up and closed her eyes as another thought came to her mind that somewhat troubled her.

' _After this campaign, it'll be far more difficult to keep Peter around'_ Arkhalla thought as she stared up at the ceiling of her tent, watching as the wind sent ripples through the fabric _'I could always offer more gold or even threaten him to stay… but I would prefer if he made the decision on his own…'_

Sometimes, Arkhalla found letting others come to a decision that she couldn't make for them more unsettling then the idea of death.

If this was taking into account what lied on the other side for her… waiting.

…

Over several hours passed as Peter slowly made his way up what looked to have been the main road of this town. He had men searching through every home and building for possible survivors or crops that may have made it somehow. Others were patrolling the area around the settlement to make sure there were no Carcosaian scouts around and if there were, well what happened to them was out of Peter's hands.

' _It's always interesting to see how far humans will go to save their own sorry asses'_ Peter thought as he passed a small alleyway that was filled with charred corpses and would have kept going had he not heard something move from within.

Peter stopped, as did his four guards who also seemed to have heard the sound, and slowly back tracked to the alleyway. Peter glanced down it with narrowed eyes and searched for whatever made the noise. After several minutes, Peter glanced at the vampiric officers.

"Circle round and place someone on the roof. If it's a survivor I don't want them to get away that quickly" Peter said as he made to enter the alley.

"What do we do when we catch them?" one of the vampires asked with a frown.

"Hold him until I question them, afterwards…" Peter trailed off with a shrug "Indulge I suppose"

Several of the nightwalkers grinned darkly as they scattered and moved to block any possible escape routes out of the alley, leaving Peter to venture in alone. He didn't get very far until he heard the sound again, this time followed by what sounded like a whimper… an animal's whimper.

Peter's eyes narrowed in interest as he followed the sound to a small hole in the wall and crouched down to see a small little canine face looking at him with wide terrified eyes. Peter was slightly taken back by the dog's appearance, it couldn't have been more than a season old at best. Peter quirked his head at the small animal as he glanced up towards one of the roofs around the alley to see one of the vampiric soldiers standing there, watching him with curiosity.

Peter shook his head as he stood up and let out a tired sigh "False alarm. Give this area another look and then head back to camp"

The immortal nodded as he pulled away out of sight and Peter could faintly here the others leave as well until it was only him in the alley with the small dog that was now poking it's head out and looking around. It's pointed ears were low to it's head before it let out a small whimper before looking up at Peter with big pleading brown eyes.

Peter stared at the small mutt with a frown "No"

The dog responded with a whimper as it took another cautious step out.

Peter turned to leave "I said no. You're better off staying here for another day. The patrols will be gone before morning and the conscripts won't find you. After we're gone your free to do whatever it is dogs do when they don't have a master anymore"

He didn't make it two steps before the small animal was in front of him, sitting on it's hunches with it's head lowered but still maintaining eye contact with him as it whimpered softly. Peter couldn't help but sigh in frustration as he gestured around him.

"Look, even if it wasn't Carcosa that did this, the army that I'm with would have done it anyway so your preaching to the wrong crowd for any sort of sympathy" Peter said as he stared down at the pitiful looking thing.

The small pup let out another whimper as it took several steps towards Peter and pressed it's head against his armored shin and let out another whimper. Peter took a deep breath as he glanced up at the star filled sky before he reached into his belt and pulled out a small amount of meat for him to snack on and dropped it before the small dog.

"Here, but after this, beat it" Peter said as he stepped over the small animal and made his way back to the camp.

The small dog stared at Peter with a quirked head before turning it's attention to the small bit of dry meat and gave it a small sniff before it's hunger won out and it scarfed it down in several bites. It gave it's lips a lick before it slowly trotted towards the alleyway's opening and poked it's head out to see Peter was farther down the road. The small dog glanced around before it broke into a run after the human.

Peter, hearing this couldn't help but feel a wave of annoyance and even anger as the dog closed the distance. He was half tempted to scoop the furry little thing up and just put it down here and now… but instead he found himself slowing his pace enough for it to catch up and being sure to mind his steps as he slowly returned to camp. He was just about halfway there when Nobu intercepted him with his usual grim expression.

"One of my men found a human sniffing around the camp" the cavalry officer reported. To his credit, he didn't seem to notice or care about the small dog peeking out from behind Peter's legs at him with a small snarl.

"They kill him?" Peter questioned the immortal warrior.

"No, general Bel is… questioning him" Nobu said carefully.

Peter quirked a brow at the man in grim amusement "You mean he's torturing him?"

"Some see it as that, others as questioning" Nobu stated in a calm tone.

"Well I guess I'll see what he could gather from the man later" Peter said as he passed by Nobu and his horse "Pull the rest of the men back. I don't think they're find anything out there tonight"

"As you wish" Nobu nodded before he gave his horse a small kick in the sides and had it venture down to the village to gather the vampiric warriors.

Peter watched the man go before he heard a small whimper by his feet and glanced at the small mutt with a scowl of annoyance "What?"

It responded with a high-pitched bark before it began to whimper even more. Peter stared at it for a moment before he held his head in his hand and sighed again "I swear I'm going to regret this…"

He then reached down and pluck the little yapping thing up and carried it the rest of the way to camp. The mutt seemed to like it as it's demeanor becoming slightly happier as it nestled into Peter's chest plate before it's eyes closed. It was asleep given hos its ears kept moving but at least it wouldn't be whimpering or braking anymore.

' _I swear this damn thing better not keep me awake at night'_ Peter thought with a growl as he passed by several conscripts who were readying for the day shift _'Being kept awake at night because of sex is one thing, but being kept awake because of a damn mutt is something I don't want to experience'_

…

"Keep up Shamath, any slower and I will leave you out here to be devoured by my much less restraint officers" Arkhalla warned her slave as they passed by ranks of conscripts and undying troops towards where Bel was 'questioning' their captured prisoner. She had yet to hear back from the man after he volunteered to gleam any information the Carcosan might know and after hearing another trout from Shamath about good and evil, she decided to kill two birds with one stone.

"Yes Undying Queen…" Shamath said lowly as he struggled to keep pace with her. The undead monarch was far faster than she appeared, Shamath was willing to bet she could hold pace with a speeding mare if given the chance.

They were still several dozen meters away from the tent where the torturing was taking place when he heard the agonized screams and Bel's loud questioning and threats.

"Talk you pond scum of a wretch!" Bel yelled as he opened a gaping wound over the man's spine with a small dagger. Blood was leaking from the gaping wounds like miniature waterfalls all across the man's body. How he was still alive was anyone's guess but part of it could be credited to Narama's skill in causing the gravest of wounds with the littlest amount of blood loss

"I'm running out of patience and you're running out of ribs!" Bel shouted over the man's pained filled screams.

"You've been at this for hours Bel. I don't think he knows anything" Arkhalla said as she entered the tent to see Bel standing before the beaten and bloodied man with Narmara sitting off to the side, watching with a bored expression.

"It's thirsty work I can tell you" Bel said as he wiped off some sweat from his brow.

Arkhalla hummed at this before she held her hand out for the dagger in his hands "Let me have that. Then leave"

Bel's eyes narrowed at this as he approached the queen and handed her the bloodied blade "As you command"

Narama saw this as her cue to leave as well and followed after Bel into the late evening air. Shahamth made to follow as well before Arkhalla's vice stopped him cold in his tracks.

"Not you Shamath"

Arkhalla began to pace around the whimpering man tied up before her, his ribs poking out of the skin and dripping with blood. She smirked as she twirled the knife around in her hands "He was caught sniffing around the camp by one of Nobu's men. I doubted someone as expendable as this could inform us about the Carcosans defenses"

"But you tortured him anyway" Shamath said in disgust, much to Arkhalla's amusement as she held out the dagger for him to take.

"You go on and on about Human kindness. This man is dying and it will take him a while to do so. Be kind to him" Arkhalla said in a soft voice, even though her eyes were hard.

She watched Shamath take the dagger before she stood behind the prisoner and grinned at the gaping wound on his back that exposed his spine. She then jammed her hands into the flesh and began to crush, pull and twist it, blood pouring into her hands and on to the ground.

"Or you may stick to your principles and not sully your hands. I'll just torture him while you think it over" Arkhalla said in twisted amusement as she caused the man further agony, his wails louder than before.

Shamath closed his eyes as he tired to ignore the man's agonized screams. His grip on the dagger tightened until his knuckles were white and his hand was trembling as the man screamed louder and louder over Arkhalla's laughter. Finally Shamath couldn't take any more, the screams, the smell of blood, the cold laughter of the monstrous queen and slashed the man's throat. Blood sprayed out of it and some of it landed on Arkhalla's face and upper chest.

"Oh, you naughty boy…" Arkhalla giggled as she wiped some of the blood off her face with amusement before licking it off her fingers

"SHUT UP!" Shamath roared as he brandished the dagger at the undying queen "I'LL-"

He was cut off as Arkhalla moved faster than he could blink and took the wrist that held the dagger and nearly crushed it in her grip. The amusement on her face was now replaced with a dark anger as she bared her fangs at him. She then spoke in a low, dark tone that caused him to shiver in dread.

"You'll do what? Do you want to cut me, like you cut his throat?" Arkhalla hissed "Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

She then dragged him over to the now dead man and forced him to look at what the blood pouring from his throat "When you did it, was it out of kindness? Or just to stop his damned mewing?"

Shamath tried to break away, to escape her grip but Arkhalla responded by grabbing him by the back of his head and forced him closer to the man's corpse, blood starting to squirt on to his face from the gaping cut on the prisoner's neck "You took a man's life. Own it! There is no good and evil. Only strength and weakness"

She then tore her hands off Shamath and let the man slump to the floor, tears leaking down his face as he began to weep at what he was forced to do. Arkhalla couldn't help but almost pity the man, almost. She turned on her heel and made for the tents entrance just as Peter entered, he removed his helmet, allowing the queen to see his face that was contorted into confusion as he looked over her shoulder.

"Do I want to even know?" Peter nodded towards Shamath's quivering form before the now dead man.

"Just introducing Shamath to the real world" she said with a grin before it fell as she turned back towards her slave "And perhaps I was punishing him for how he spoke to you the other day"

Peter quirked a brow at this before glancing back at Shamath staring at the bleeding corpse in silence before he shrugged "Thank you I suppose, unnecessary, but thanks all the same"

Arkhalla nodded at the man before she scowled at Shamath "Oh stop crying, he was a complete stranger that for all we know is the man that helped burned this village to the ground and killed dozens if not hundreds of innocents"

"Isn't that what we were going to do?" Peter asked with a grim chuckle.

"Yes, but we had a more justifiable reason" Arkhalla said as she and Peter left the tent "We're at war…"

"If you say so" Peter said with a shrug before he casted a brief glance back at the tent "So, first kill I take it?"

"Yes… though I'm surprised by how badly he's reacting to it. When I made mine, the worst I did was puke" Arkhalla said with a small grin.

Peter hummed at that "How old were you?"

"Eight" Arkhalla answered.

"Your father must have been proud" Peter said carefully. While he knows little about Arkhalla's past, he was able to put together that mentioning anything that had to do with her father was, not taboo but generally discouraged from being spoken.

"I suppose…" Arkhalla said in a low tone before she glanced at Peter "How old were you?"

Peter was silent for a few minutes before he answered in a light tone "I was first exposed to death when my mother and father were killed before me and my brother's eyes… the first time I killed another… I was only ten three years later"

"I'm sure you had your reasons" Arkhalla commented as she made a mental note to ask about this 'brother' at a later time.

"I suppose I did…" Peter answered plainly.

The two traveled through the camp in silence before Arkhalla caught a whiff of something that interested her "Why do you smell like wet dog?"

Peter grunted in annoyance "I made a new friend… and if I wanted to sleep, I had to give him a bath"

…

It was nearing dawn later in the evening that Shamath fiddled with the lock to his literal cage lying just behind the queen's tent. He was trying to pick the lock with a piece of bone that he was forced to scavenge off the corpse after she left. Hus hands shook as he was still haunted by the image of the man dying and his screams up until then. He was so distracted by his thoughts that his hand slipped and he almost sliced into his wrist with the pointed end of the bone.

He was able to stop himself before the bone hit and let out a shaky breath as he glanced at the nearby sentry who looked to be leaning against his spear, on the verge of sleep. Shamath swallowed nervously as he went back to trying to pick the lock and just as it seemed to be in vain, it unlocked.

Shamath's eyes widened as he slowly pushed the gate open, wincing at the screeching the metal made before he slowly crawled out and looked around for signs that someone saw his escape. Seeing none he quickly moved through the shadows of the tents towards the edge of the camp.

Had he stayed a little longer at his cage, he would have noticed a small Black Widow crawling out of the lock and down one of the bars of the cage. Daylight was nearing and Shamath saw that already Conscripts were getting ready for their portion of the watch while the nightstalkers retreated to their sun pits. He was forced to stop on a few occasions as several soldiers passed by. Finally, he made it towards the edge of the camp and broke out into a run, for every step he made, he wondered in a sentry saw him and was preparing to put an arrow in his back.

He was just shy of a mile away from the camp when he heard a voice "Out for a early morning stroll are we?"

Shamath came to a dead stop and slowly turned to his left to see Peter sitting on a small boulder, unarmored, as he passed a small rock between his hands. Peter looked unconcerned with appearance as he threw the rock up in the air before catching it again.

Shamath felt fear grip his heart as he stared at his tormentor's lover in dread. He was so close to freedom, just a few hundred more meters and he could have finally been free of the monster and her followers.

His thoughts were suddenly broken by Peter's laugh as he stared at him with a mixture of amusement and annoyance "You know Shamath, had I been anyone else like say I don't know bel, Nobu or even worse, Narama … you'd be dead or dying now"

"Then, why aren't I?" Shamath asked shakily.

Peter shrugged "Because if I killed you, Arkhalla would be unhappy. Granted she can always find a new slave after her forces pillage and burn that place to the ground, but she's taking a special liking to you. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost feel jealous"

At this Shamath's eyes narrowed in a combination of anger and disgust, the mere idea that he would ever want to be intimate with the Undying Queen disturbed him greatly "There is nothing to be jealous of. You can keep that monster!"

"Hmmm… tell me Shamath, do you know the difference between an animal and a monster?" Peter asked as he tossed the rock behind him and leaned forward on his knees and gave the man a hard stare.

"What?" Shamath said, his fear giving way to confusion.

"The difference between an animal and a monster" Peter said with a shrug as he turned his gaze towards the destroyed village just half a mile away, even from here he can still smell the smoke and blood "It's something my brother asked me once on our first mission as fully recognized warriors of Aracnae which was ironically our last…"

Shamath stared at Peter in total silence for several minutes trying to find an answer to his question before he shook his head "No, I don't… but I fail to see the difference"

Peter chuckled at this "Well an animal is something that doesn't hide what it is from the world. It doesn't pretend to be something else, it doesn't try to justify its actions. It just does, as nature intended it to do when it was born. Sure, it's actions can be seen as monstrous but it has the capacity to change. Wouldn't be easy and it might never fully do so, but it'll at least try if for nothing else then to survive, to flourish"

Peter then turned his gaze back towards Shamath and smiled coldly "A monster on the other hand, there is no rhyme or reason to what they do other than that they just have this compulsive need to cause as much pain and misery as possible if for nothing else to help validate their existence. And they will never change, no matter how hard you try. You see, the only real difference between a monster and an animal is the eyes"

"W-What do you mean?" Shamath asked with confusion before it turned to fear as Peter stood up and slowly approached the young man. Shamath thought of running but he knew that Peter would catch him before he even so much as turned, so the best he could do was stay still and hope that his end would be quick.

But the blow never came as Peter came to stand before Shamath, even out of armor Peter towered over the man in both height and build. His expression was blank as he leaned in towards the young slave "Tell me Shamath, what do you see in my eyes?"

Shamath swallowed nervously as he gazed into the deadly man's eyes and saw something that froze him on the spot.

Rage… a deep burning rage that looked to barely contained under an ocean of bitterness and loneliness. The two stood there in complete silence for what felt like hours, the only sounds being Shamath's shallow breathing and the rustling of the wind across some of the weeds lying about.

Finally, Peter pulled back and gave the man a grim smile "You see boy, I'm not a monster… I'm just an animal trying to get by in this world, same as any other. But when you look into a monster's eyes boy, you won't see anything… no love, no malice, no mercy… just… nothing"

Peter then walked past him and slowly made his way back to the camp. He only made it several meters before a thought came to him and he looked over his shoulder back at Shamath "Oh and you have an hour until I decide to mention your little… escape. Best hurry"

He then turned and kept walking, leaving Shamath standing there in the field as the sun began to creep up over the distant mountains. The heat of the sun on his face dragged Shamath out of his thoughts and reminded him that he need to move, and fast. He looked towards the distant slopes only a few miles away and began to head towards them as fast as he could.

Hours passed as Shamath trekked across the countryside and eventually into the rocky hills of the mountains slopes. The cold biting air struck his body like a thousand tiny knives but he kept moving, he had no intention of being caught, he'd rather freeze to death then go back to that monster and her army.

He was just trying to make his way across a steep ledge when he suddenly lost his footing and fell down the jagged rocky slopes of the mountain. Shamath didn't have tm to scream in pain as he felt his head collide with a stone, disorienting him slightly until he finally came to a painful stop at the bottom of a gorge that was occupied by over a dozen Carcosain soldiers that were scouting out Ur's army.

One of the men to notice Shamath's less then graceful descent was the General of the army who had taken it upon himself to monitor the legions of Ur marching towards his home. He was also the one to give the order to have all villages and towns between the army of Ur and Carcosa burned and it's inhabitants put to the sword. The order was met with controversy but it would weaken Ur's forces and ensure victory for the Bright City of Carcosa, he was certain of it.

"Hmm… intersting" The General hummed as he approached Shamath and gestured for two of his men to seize him with a snap of his fingers while he stared the man down with a detached expression "Normally you'd be lucky to be alive. But you're not"

"Nn… not Urian… escaped" Shamath said weakly, his sides flared in pain with every breath he took. The two men were not gentile as they pulled him up and held him by his arms.

"A slave by the looks of him" one of the Carcosaian soldiers said to the general as said man stroked his chin in thought.

"Is that so…" he murmured.

"Escaped…" Shamath said weakly as he was held by the two solders. He was able to lift his head up slightly but found the action to be too painful and simply let his head hang "I owe them… nothing"

"Right, chain him. We'll take him back to the city with us" the General said as he nodded towards some of his men to put the fire out and ready their horses for the journey back to Carcosa.

"Ask… I'll tell you… all I know" Shamath tried to bargain towards the men, he would help them any way he could if it meant ensuring that Carcosa did not meet the same fate as Lakar.

"Ha!" the man said with a dark grin on his face as he stared down at Shamath "I'm sure you will"

It was then that Shamath looked up at the man's eyes and felt fear wash over him. When he stared into the General's eyes as his hands and feet were bound, he didn't see anything. He saw no rage, no mercy, no sympathy…

There was nothing.

It was then that Peter's words echoed through Shamath's head as he was dragged across the ground, his already aching body screaming in protest.

" _But when you look into a monster's eyes boy, you won't see anything… no love, no malice, no mercy… just… nothing"_

It was then that Shamath thought he may have been better off with the army, if for nothing else to spare him the agony that was coming.

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, the siege for Carcosa begins!

Warning expect some very dark shit for the next two chapters. Like I'm not joking some really dark shit is going to happen and the tragedy is that this stuff actually did happen in ancient times. Not always, but anyone that's a history buff of the ancient world or has an idea knows what an invading army will sometimes do to a city it's attacking.


	10. Chapter 10

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **Spawn Hades** : No that's about right in what's going to happen. Don't ask how I can write it. It's Queen of Vampires and no Shamath isn't an original character, he's the guy that Arkhalla falls for exactly the reasons you stated and her just slowly growing a heart like she is with Peter and well the romance ends as one can expect, she dies. Buuuut since Peter is the one she's falling for, things will end differently, somewhat.

 **Yorhart Meltz** : No, the Spider is his, we'll see why Peter seems to be the one that freed Shamath. Just think 'Trojan Horse'.

 **Dr Sugarcakes** : True, but he's not even aware of the meetings and Arkhalla's court planning a coup'. But I'm thinking of having it that Peter is beginning to suspect something after the campaign against Carcosa is over.

 **gunman** : Yeah, poor Shamath is in for a rough time but it does serve a purpose as we'll see here soon.

 **cabrera1234** : She-ra is from He-Man right?

 **KasugaRomio** : Ummm I wouldn't say awesome… more horrifying and crossing lines so far it's not even funny. Brace for how cities were conquered back in ancient times because it ain't pretty.

 **henchmen213** : Who says the dog is normal? As for Peter being as strong as John Carter, I'm not sure how strong he is compared to Spider-man given he's on a world with less gravity so he's by a technicality stronger, but I will say that physically speaking, Peter's stronger than his mainstream counterpart thanks to the amount of times he's killed and well having sex. Gotta love that Chaos and Tantric energy boost eh?

 **Cyclopz** : I have something dark in mind for the dog, what it is, and wheatear it'll be good or bad is a secret. I was just going off what people would do back in those times and just made it that they were vampires, might mean more gore and horror but I don't feel like I forced them to be edgy. Even in stories set in modern times they've been brutal to people.

 **Krolikson** : You're probably going to be less interested in what happens this chapter and the next two. Won't blame you for bailing.

Okay I just got to get this out now because I know if I don't I'll regret it.

 **THIS CHAPTER AND THE NEXT TWO WILL HAVE SCENES OF RAPE, TORTURE, PRACTICAL GENOCIDE, INFANTCIDE, AND A HOST OF OTHER DARK CONTENT! NOT ALL IN THE SAME CHAPTER BUT I FIGURED I SHOULD WARN YOU ALL NOW!**

Had to get that out because I don't want some reader at the end post a review saying, 'Oh you went too far here, this is sick'. Yeah well, I've given ample warning in the last chapter and right now. If you don't want to see this stuff, come back in chapter 13 which is after the siege. So yeah warning given, and for those who are understandably squeamish, either see you in chapter 13 or don't bitch about the horror your about to see if you decide to power through it.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

" _K-Kaine…" a nervous twenty-two-year-old Peter glanced at his larger, more powerful brother in worry as they had arrived in Manda-Han just a few days ago to aid the city in its war against the Legions of the Goblin King._

" _Hmm?" Kaine sounded as he glanced at Peter while sharping his sword._

" _Do you think… do you think we'll-"_

" _Survive this?" Kaine asked with a raised brow before he shrugged "Maybe…"_

" _That's not very reassuring" Peter said with a frown as he gripped the handle of his own blade while they watched dozens of warriors of Aranece pass them by to help fortify the city._

" _Better than giving you false hope" Kaine reasoned as he examined the blade and made out his reflection in it "Just stick close to me little brother and you'll be fine"_

" _Little brother…?" Peter said with confusion "We're twins. I'm the same age as you!"_

 _At this Kaine stood up, showing he was a good half foot taller than Peter and smirked down at him "True, but I'm the taller one"_

" _Size isn't everything" Peter deadpanned._

" _Tell that to the chambermaids" Kaine snickered._

" _How could I, when they all seem to prefer you over me and will barely glance at me when your nearby" Peter scowled at the larger man before he sighed and went back to securing his armor._

 _Kaine frowned at the words Peter used before looking around them to see more and more warriors pouring in 'Hmm… this Goblin King's army must be formidable if master_ _Anansi_ _is bringing in so many warriors. I wouldn't be surprised if he's recalled everyone to here'_

 _And if he recalled everyone, that meant Maximus would be here somewhere…_

 _It was then that he saw Peter looking at him with worry as he said something. Kaine cleared his mind of the murderer of his and Peter's parents and gave him his full attention "I'm sorry?"_

 _Peter's frown deepened as he spoke "I asked what we were going to do after the battle?"_

" _Well for starters, see if Maximus was killed in the fighting" Kaine said as he sheathed his sword on his back "And if he isn't, see if we can rectify that. If not then well there's always next time I suppose"_

" _And after that?" Peter asked with a raised brow._

 _Kaine thought it over for a moment before he smiled "I'll speak to lord Miguel about letting us become wanders. We can head for the southern cities that you've always wanted to see, maybe see if the stories of Ur's undying legions are true or not. Spread the order's name and influence and maybe find you a woman to produce me a niece or nephew"_

" _Well if you want any of that, then you're going to have to make sure that whatever woman I can gain the attention of never meets you" Peter said with a chuckle._

" _Oh, and why's that?" Kaine asked with an amused but confused expression._

" _Because every woman we've ever met almost always leaves me for a night or several in your bed" Peter deadpanned._

" _Well something tells me that we'll find my future sister down there that won't be charmed by me and since when have I ever been wrong?" Kaine asked with a smile._

" _Last night when you said that three pinches of that explosive powder from out east will do in destroying that bridge the Goblin King's army was hoping to use to outflank us" Peter said with a blank expression._

" _Besides that!" Kaine snapped._

" _A year ago when I warned you not to sleep with that lusty chambermaid that turned out to be a man but you said I was mistaken" Peter said with a smirk._

 _Kaine scowled at his shorter sibling "I hope your future wife smacks the sass out of you"_

" _I'm told it's one of my most endearing qualities" Peter said with a laugh before it sobered as he looked out into the distance and saw faint whips of smoke on the far end of the dark forest that acted as a barrier between the Goblin Army and Manda-Han._

 _Kaine followed his gaze and stared at the ominous fumes for a moment before he slipped his helmet on and tapped Peter on the shoulder "Come on, Captain Hedwin's is expecting us soon"_

 _Peter grunted at that as he slipped on his helmet and followed after his twin "What are we going to do anyway? Destroy another supply route for the Goblin King's forces?"_

" _No, he said something about booby trapping the forest and securing it before falling back here to fortify the city further" Kaine said as they passed over a hundred Aranece warriors marching towards the inner parts of the walled city._

" _Ugh, Hedwin is commanding us?" Peter groaned which caused Kaine to smirk._

" _He is a rather descent tactician" Kaine said._

" _Yeah… and a sore loser" Peter grumbled as he looked back towards the forest and as the sun began to set._

…

"So… that's Carcosa" Peter said as he sat on his horse and stared at the distant city of Carcosa, the heart of the kingdom that Arkhalla wants to conquer and destroy. He has to admit, he was impressed.

The walls of the city stood at over a hundred feet high, were roughly twenty feet thick and even from here Peter could make out several catapults mounted along the ramparts. And this wasn't taking into account the tens of thousands of solders camped around the outside of the city.

Carcosa, big as it was, couldn't house over forty thousand troops, not without creating some serious problems inside like overcrowding and moving troops fast and effectively.

' _Hmm, we're gonna have to either get that army inside the city or draw it away. Can't risk setting up camp with them there to simply march towards us at dawn'_ Peter thought as Nobu made a sound which caught his attention "Something to add Nobu?"

"We're going to have to camp farther away to avoid being attacked at dawn, but then we're faced with the problem of moving our army here fast enough to attack, breach and conquer the city before daylight" the eastern Vampire said with a frown.

"Hmm… it does sound like we're trouble when you put it that way" Peter agreed before he smiled as memories of the other night came to him _'It's a good thing Shamath was so focused on me, he didn't notice the six little spiders leap off my clothes and on to his. Now all I have to do is wait-'_

' _ **It is done…'**_ a very faint whisper echoed through his mind as Peter and Nobu turned away from Carcosa and began to make their way back to the army. It was one of the spiders that Peter had latch on to Shamath when he 'fled' the camp _ **'We have ensnared dozens to aid us and they will do the same to others… many will die in the coming days…'**_

' _Excellent…'_ Peter mentally replied. The spiders' telepathic communication only ranged up to a few miles and since he could hear one of them from here, it meant that Shamath was captured, just as he hoped ' _Once the army's officers are dealt with, begin making your way through the rest of the inhabitants of the city'_

' _ **Yesss…'**_ the spider responded before the link was severed as Peter pulled farther and farther away from Carcosa.

' _Now all I have to do is get Arkhalla to agree to the second part of my plan'_ Peter thought as he and Nobu raced across the darkened landscape _'Shouldn't be too hard hopefully, after all if we time this right, that city will fall in the course of a single night, well two technically...'_

…

"I'm going to need twelve catapults and over six thousand men, humans, along with a hundred or so barrels of oil and be allowed to attack the city before the rest of the army arrives" Peter said as he stood before Arkhalla with the only other occupants in the tent being Bel, Narama, Nobu, three Vampiric Captains and Sin. Outside, the camp was a city of activity as men and Vampire alike rushed to assemble the numerous siege engines they will use on the city in a few days.

Arkhalla raised a brow at this "Is that right?"

"Yes, my queen" Peter said with a nod.

Arkhalla hummed at the request as she stared at Peter with a thoughtful expression "And pray tell why you need such resources and why you want me to hold the bulk of my army back while you attack Carcosa first with a vastly smaller force?"

"Partly to soften its defenses so when the rest of the army arrives, it should have little troubling in overrunning the city" Peter explained.

"And how is it that you will be able to ensure such a thing with only a dozen catapults and six thousand men when you and Nobu here just stated that over forty thousand men protect that heavily fortified city" Arkhalla said with a frown "And this is before we include the town guard and the citizens who will be less than happy to have us attacking"

"Because Shamath had unknowingly allowed some agents of mine into the city. Within the coming days, they'll be killing off Carcosa's officers before moving on to the city's inhabitants" Peter said.

Arkhalla's eyes narrowed at the mention of her absent slave "What do you mean Shamath helped get these agents of yours into Carcosa?"

The room was soon filled with a heavy tension as Arkahlla stared at Peter who struggled to remain passive under her intense gaze After a few moments he answered "We heard reports of Carcosain men in the mountain range near the scorched village we discovered a few days ago. I knew Shamath had heard these as well since he was with you when informed of this discovery and would likely head there for help if he ever escaped before we got to the city. I suppose he wanted to help them out of some sense of misplaced sympathy. So, I helped him break out of his cage and met up with him outside the camp and slipped a few of these…"

Peter held up his hand which had two small black spiders crawling over it.

"…Latch on to him. After that it was just a matter of hoping my gamble paid off"

"And did it?" Arkhalla asked with an edge in her tone, she was clearly unhappy about Peter going behind her back with this and using her own personal slave no less to achieve it.

"Yes, when me and Nobu were scouting out the city, one of them contacted me and alerted me that they had begun fulfilling their purpose. They've even gained the assistance of the city's own resident spider population to help spread their range"

"How can a bunch of spiders do such a thing?" Kuthan asked with curiosity.

"Trade secret… but let's just say that it's why the Order of Aranece always seemed to know everything. After all, who pays attention to a simple spider on a wall?" Peter chuckled.

"Hmm… interesting, is there a way to teach others this?" Sin asked carefully.

"No" Peter responded with a blank expression "And if there were… I'm not teaching you"

Sin frowned at this but didn't pursue the matter as Peter glanced back at Arkhalla "With the deaths of the army's officers and soon dozens if not perhaps hundreds of the city's people, Carcosa will fall into a state of chaos, making it that much easier to attack and conquer it"

Arkhalla held Peter's gaze for a few moments as she mulled over his plan and couldn't help but be a tad bit impressed by it. The man was far more cunning then she originally gave him credit for.

' _Once more Peter… you continue to impress…'_ she thought with a small grin before Bel spoke.

"How many of the city's people will your spiders kill?" he asked with a frown.

Peter shrugged "Don't know, maybe a few hundred given the amount of time that they have but this isn't my first siege and they know their role. Kill as many of the children and women as possible. Granted given the city's population and rather impressive healers I can't guarantee a lot will die like they would at another city but it's better than nothing I suppose"

"Then why bother with it?" Arkhalla asked with a curious frown "If you know that your spiders won't be able to kill them all in the amount of time they were given, why make the effort? It can't be just to crush and demoralize the city's defenders"

Peter was silent for a few moments as his eyes stared into the Undying Queen's. Finally, he spoke "I figured death by spiders is more merciful then what many of your men have in mind"

"Is that so?" Arkhalla sked as she quirked her head to the side and her eyes narrowed "Why would you take it upon yourself to do such a thing Peter?"

Peter went silent as memories of his mother's final moments came to mind. He knew that situation was different for what's coming for the women of Carcosa but to him it was still the largely same "Maybe there's still a small part of me in my cold blackened heart that hates seeing women and children at the mercy of a monster…"

Arkhalla's eyes narrowed a bit at this, she could sense there was more to what Peter said then she'd likely ever know. She concluded to investigate the manner later as best she can before nodding "Very well, and your request for a dozen of my siege engines is granted. And as a show of good faith, I'm giving you nine thousand men instead of simply six, perhaps it will make a difference or perhaps not. So long as your plan ensures my victory over Carcosa in the end"

"Thank you, my lady, you won't regret it… hopefully" Peter bowed as Bel stepped forward with an expression mixed between outrage and confusion.

"But my Queen, that's over a third of our entire arsenal of cata-"

"I am aware of this General" Arkhalla spoke in a cool tone as she glanced at the man with narrowed eyes "Or are you implying that I don't know my own army as well as you do?"

"O-Of course not" Bel said, his head lowered while he subtly glared at Peter's form. He then turned on his heel "I shall see to it that the first twelve engines assembled are ready to move within the hour"

"Very good Bel" Arkhalla said with a curt nod before she made a gesture for the rest to leave. She saw Peter leaving as well before she spoke "Not you Peter, I still wish to discuss something with you that's been on my mind for quite some time now"

"Oh?" Peter said with a quirked head.

"Yes" Arkhalla nodded as she leaned back in her in chair "It's come to my attention that there are quite a few spots that have opened in my court recently"

"So I'm told" Peter said, having a faint idea of what was coming but didn't get his hopes up too high, he learned a long time ago that hoping for the best made the pain all the worse when it didn't fall through.

"I wish to offer you a spot within it" Arkhalla said as she gazed at Peter with a grin "You've killed a grave threat to my kingdom in the form of Morbius and have taken my army and have slowly re-organized it into a descent fighting force that may allow me to expand my empire further than I ever dared to imagine. It's only fair you are generously rewarded"

"What would my duties be? If it's leading your army, I'm not sure Bel would approve" Peter said with a chuckle.

"As far as I'm aware, there is no law saying I can't have more than one general" Arkhalla smirked before it softened "But that is only part of the offer"

"What's the rest?" Peter asked with interest.

He was met with silence as Arkhalla stared at him with a small grin. It took several minutes for it to click in Peter's mind and cause his eyes to widen "Oh… well then… that's uh very generous my lady"

"From someone like me it is and I've met very few men like you, Peter, that deserve such a reward…" Arkhalla said as she stood up and slowly approached Peter and placed a hand on his chest while she looked up at his covered eyes with an earnest expression "And I'm not a woman who will let a possibly once in a life time opportunity like this slip through my grasp"

She then pulled away and waved him off "I expect an answer when this battle is over and you and I stand over the ruins of Carcosa"

Peter hummed at that as he turned to leave "Hell of a motivator to survive this battle…"

"Indeed" Arkhalla said with a dark grin as she glanced down at the map that showed Carcosa and knocked the small dagger over it that was planted in the center of the name "Nothing says I'm committed to a woman like conquering a city in her honor"

Peter chuckled at this "I suppose so, now if there's nothing further you wish to discuss, I need to return to my tent and be ready to move out as soon as the men are ready"

Arkhalla nodded as she resumed her place in her throne "Of course…"

Peter nodded as he turned and made his way out of the tent and into the bustling swarm of the camp before turning in the direction of his tent. It took him a little longer than normal as men and beast of burden passed by and sometimes took up the entire pathway, forcing Peter to find an alternate route back.

' _Hmm, maybe I should take Arkahlla up on her offer to stay in her tent on the way back to Ur though if I accept her offer, I'll likely be doing that anyway'_ Peter thought as he approached his small portable quarters and didn't even enter the thing before the small little dog that he's very reluctantly taken in and started to call Lockjaw burst through the flaps and ran around him. Tail wagging and yapping in happiness at his return while Peter stared down at the mutt with a frown _'Was kinda hoping you'd be gone by now… I left the tent's flaps open for a reason'_

Lockjaw, unaware of Peter's thoughts sat on it's hunches and looked up at him with wide hopeful eyes. Peter sighed as he removed a bit more of dried meat from his belt and threw it in the air and watched the dog's gaze follow it with a surprising amount of intensity before it pounced on it.

Peter snorted at this before he entered the tent followed by Lockjaw and was surprised to see that the little mangy thing hadn't decided to try and mark it's territory in here, not that he's complaining but from what Peter's heard, it's something dogs liked to do.

' _Or at least my farm's dogs did'_ Peter thought with a faint smile as memories of him and Kaine rushing through their parent's small field with the farm's dogs came to mind.

He was suddenly ripped out of the soothing memory by the barking of Lockjaw, causing Peter to growl in annoyance as he looked down to see it holding up a small pouch in it's jaws. Peter's brow twitched as he took it from the animal "No… you can eat later"

The dog whimpered a little at this before it wandered over to Peter's bed and leaped on to it and moved in a small circle before lying down and letting out a small yawn as it watched Peter begin packing.

…

Over several days passed before Peter's small force arrived at the city of Carcosa in the dead of night, their pace slowed because of the siege engines, and already Peter could see that some sort of hell had been unleashed in the city. The army that looked to have been organized and ready for any war seemed to be in total disarray then when he last saw it, partly because so many experienced officers have died in the past few days and so many new and inexperienced ones have taken their place.

He could also see and smell the smoke from the fires that the guards and army started to burn the bodies of people and sections of the city they believed to have been stricken by some plague when in reality it was a bunch of semi-possessed spiders. Riots were breaking out in the streets and already a few hundred soldiers have likely deserted the army along with an equal number of Carcosa's inhabitants.

Peter hummed in approval as one of his spiders continued to report in on what's been going on in the city as the men went about securing the siege engines and readying them to fire on the city. Peter could hear and see hundreds of Carcosain soldiers marshalling at the City's main gate but dare not venture out to attack the force in case it was a trap. For all they know the force was made entirely of vampires and a force of nine thousand would butcher thousands of them before the night is out and they knew the main bulk of the army is still approaching.

It was when one of the spiders mentioned a possible slave revolt that Peter decided to ask about Arkhalla's pet human while Lockjaw, who had decided to follow Peter despite the man's commands for it not to, sat beside him and rubbed it's head against his shin.

' _Shamath, what has become of him? The Queen while hasn't said anything is unhappy about me using her slave for this'_ Peter questioned as he divided his time between watching Lockjaw rub his head against his leg and the men dig trenches around the site they've established to keep the men of Carcosa at bay.

' _ **He lives, one of my sister's watches over him in the dungeons as he's beaten and tortured. He told him that he was willing to tell them everything he knows but they still tortured him. The one that took part in it the most was the Carcosain general. He seemed to enjoy it for some reason"**_ the spider said in confusion.

"Heh, looks like Shamath has met his first monster" Peter said as he leaned against one of the siege engines, a trebuchet to his mild surprise, and watched the city knowing that in a few minutes the attack would be underway "Wonder if he'll still be as naïve about the world around him when this is all over"

' _ **I will have my sister help free him when they leave the dungeon to aid in the defense of the city'**_ the spider offered.

' _Might as well'_ Peter responded as one of the men approached Peter after helping set up the last catapult. Lockjaw saw the unknown human approach and began to growl at him. Peter had to hold back a chuckle as the man jumped at the sound.

"The trebuchets are ready for firing my lord" the man said nervously as Lockjaw's growls increased, the little mutt even went as far as baring his teeth at him.

"Good" Peter nodded as he pushed himself off the catapult and approached the edge of the camp where the defenses were being made with the man in tow while Lockjaw ran around Peter's feet "Heh, Carcosa is in for one hell of a night"

"What are you going to do?" the man asked as Peter came to a stop at the edge of the defenses and crossed his arms as he stared at the city.

Peter glanced at the man with a blank expression before he let out a grim chuckle "I'm going to do to Carcosa what the Goblin King had his men do to my people at Manda-Han"

"And what's that?" the man asked as the catapults were being loaded with heavy barrels filled with oil while a few behind those were loaded with large balls made up of wood, cloth before they were soaked in oil and tied up by chains and lit on fire.

Peter sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck "We're going to burn them"

And then, the siege engines launched their projectiles at the city and the army outside it's gates. Normally trebuchets only had an effective range of close to over a thousand feet but given a few modifications made to them and the fact they were on a good-sized hill near a little under third of a mile away allowed them to stay out of the range of Carcosa's defenses while being able to still inflict some serious damage of their own.

Peter watched as the oil barrels were launched first, some hitting the upper battlements of the walls, sending men scurrying for cover and some hitting the troops outside the gate. Quite a few died from impact the barrels while a handful made it over the wall and into the city. The oil filled barrel onslaught continued for another few minutes, Peter needed as much of the men at the gates, the walls and the wooden made buildings behind the wall soaked as much as possible before he gave the order to fire the ignited projectiles.

Lockjaw watched the barrage with a quirked head, his ears moving as he could pick up the sounds of men screaming and running for cover along with those of the people still inside.

Finally, Peter glanced at the man next to him and nodded "Light them up"

The man nodded as he rushed back towards the trebuchets loaded with the lit projectile and issued the order to fire. Peter watched in silence as the balls of fire soared through the air like shooting stars before they began to slam against the oil covered sections of the walls and lit up within seconds, forcing the men nearby to rush for cover.

One fire ball in particular landed in the assembled troops at the gate that were preparing to launch an assault on the Urian's position and scattered as the flames erupted within their ranks. Scores of men caught fire and began to scream in agony as they began to burn.

Peter winced at that, while they were the enemy he couldn't help but feel a modicum of pity, burning was no way to go in his mind.

' _Then again if I have to pick being eaten alive by vampires or death by fire, I'll choose the flames every time'_ Peter thought as more and more of the city began to light up as the oil fired from earlier began to light up in small infernos that grew as they found purchase on numerous wooden structures or Carcosain soldiers that were either to slow to get out of the way or had yet to clean themselves of the oil.

It was then the inexperience of the officers began to cause further damage as a few officers tried to make a dash for the Ur encampment. Peter watched them approach before he sighed and shook his head and glanced at one of the conscripts holding a torch and gestured him for him to come over to him.

The man obeyed and Peter snatched the torch when he was close enough "Did the men set it?"

"Yes…" the man nodded as he watched the approaching men near.

Peter took a few steps forward and waited until the approaching force was only a few hundred feet away before he threw the torch into the air and watched it sail through the dark sky. It landed just shy a few meters short of the approaching Carcosains but Peter wasn't aiming for them… he was aiming for the oil drenched ground they were on.

Within the span of a second a massive inferno of fire erupted followed by the howls and agonized screams of the Carcosains. Lockjaw whimpered at the sound, more from the volume of the screams then the fact men were now burning alive while Peter looked on with a blank expression.

With his enhanced eye sight, it was like he was right there with them instead of hundreds of feet away. He could see how men's flesh started to burn, how their armor began to melt and glow from the goring heat of the fire. Men bumped into each other as they staggered around in absolute agony while trying to find a way out of the fire. Their screams drowned out each other's as they collapsed by the dozens, many still alive as the flames slowly ate away their flesh until after a time, the screaming stopped and all Peter could see was numerous cooked corpses lying on the ground, some in piles up to his chest with their limbs bent and sticking out at odd angles with some falling off completely as the fire ate away the muscle and bone holding them together.

For a moment, he wasn't in Carcosa watching as the trebuchets ceased firing their fiery projectiles and related with oil filled barrels, but instead in a dark smoke-filled forest as he, Kaine and over three hundred warriors of Aranece found themselves boxed in with a wall of fire on one side and over three thousand soldiers of the Goblin King's army on the other.

Peter was dragged out of his memory by the sound of Lockjaw growling and looked to see another man had approached him, the leader of this legion of Conscripts. The man gave Peter a bow "My lord"

"Status commander?" Peter asked as he nodded towards the trebuchets.

"We've gone through a fifth of our oil barrels my lord. As you requested, I had the men hold fire and wait until the flames in the city die down before we resume our attack" the man said as he straightened himself before nodding towards the inferno that was ranging on a few hundred feet from the camp "Shall I have the men begin setting the next oil field when those flames die down as well?"

Peter considered it before he received a message from one of the spiders in the city.

' _ **The general has called for the men outside the city to pull back behind the walls'**_ it hissed lowly, likely watching the order being given now _**'He's also having those to badly wounded to be put out of their misery and the healers to focus on the soldiers rather than the city's inhabitants'**_

' _Have the ensnared spiders that are still alive to begin going through the healer's tents with the wounded soldiers and leave a few left to watch over Shamath. After that, return to me'_ Peter ordered.

' _ **Yess…'**_ the spider responded before ending the connection while Peter glanced at the conscript commander who was still waiting for an order.

"Yes, but use less oil this time. Maybe we can get a few more shots at the city before the Queen arrives with the rest of the army" Peter waved the man off as he took his seat against a small boulder that was jetting out of the ground.

"Of course, my lord" the conscript nodded as he turned and made his way towards the rest and begin to issue Peter's orders.

Peter watched the men and couldn't help but envy them a little as they set about making any modifications or repairs to the trebuchets under the combined light of the torches lit in the camp and the light coming from the burning city not too far away. After all, as close as they were to the city, they couldn't hear the same things that Peter did over the sounds of the fires raging inside the walls and the yells of hundreds of soldiers and alarm bells.

But Peter could… he could hear every scream of every man, woman, child or animal as they were caught in the growing inferno and screamed out in agony for help. He could smell the burning of flesh filling the air quicker than burning wood or oil. And soon the sounds, smells and images of the battle of Manda-Han rushed through Peter's mind and seemed to combine with the ones he was experiencing here until he could no longer tell the difference between the two.

' _We're going to burn them_ _._ _We're going to burn them I said_ _… and well we are'_ Peter thought as he sat there, staring at the fires spreading in the city while Lockjaw laid down next to him and rested his head on the man's thigh and let out a soft whimper.

Peter let out a sigh as he made out the individuals cries of people, dogs, cats, horses, birds and what even sounded like an elephant or two in the city "This is why I fuckin hate sieges..."

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, the siege continues as the rest of the army of Ur arrives, meanwhile far to the north, another Spider falls to a mysterious enemy…


	11. Chapter 11

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **Spawn Hades** : Sort of, she more or less offered him an extremely high position both politically and military wise to keep him around. Offering herself was just icing on the cake. No Ben Reilly doesn't exist here, thought about it but decided not to do it. He's too pure to be in such a dark and violent world lol.

 **THEtoken1** : I never try to lighten the realities of war. People die, it ain't clean or pretty and to beat the other side, more often than not, you have to cross a few moral lines.

 **Hardlight** : You can say he's pretty good at keeping people loyal to the order and he let Peter and Kaine keep their hate for Maximus as it'll in a way inspire them to stick around for the chance to off the guy, plus he's made it so that Peter and Kaine, if they did leave, they'd really have nowhere to go. For the moment, Peter has no intentions of finding a student and even if he wanted to pass on the teachings of the Order, he wouldn't be able to, not really at least. We'll see why later on.

 **Cyclopz** : I wouldn't say exclusive, but more of she's willing to let others see that she favors Peter over pretty much everyone else. Yeah it was Shamath's innocence that attracted her to him in the comics, here it's Peter sort of nobility and inhuman nature and a little bit of charm that has gained her attention. Plus it's Spider-man, guy tends to attract all sorts of beautiful women somehow.

 **Esquire-man** : I don't think I really have any stories where it has Peter telling others how to live their lives, if anything he'd be telling them to not try to live his life. His armor here looks a bit like his 'Ends of the Earth' armor but darker and not as high tech looking, sort of an older look to it.

 **Dr Sugarcakes** : The drink that Peter took is more of something to numb him and allow him to use his powers to their fullest ability without being impeded by strain for a time. Think like a mixture of an adrenaline shot and pain killers almost. Tantric and Chaos boosts here work a little differently given that how Peter got his powers is different than most incarnations. Well he's already starting to use his other abilities outside raw strength and speed like using his command over spiders and his intelligence to maneuver the siege of Carcosa into a favorable outcome.

 **Yorhart Meltz** : What's next is a massacre where the real horror begins to go down.

 **henchman213** : John Carter is like this civil war soldier that was sent to Mars when it still had a civilization on it and stuff. The movie that came out a few years ago doesn't do the actual story justice, not by a longshot. It's what inspired the creation of Superman and a host of other superheroes and sci-fi stories we see today. In terms of scale this will be the largest fight, I have another towards the end of the story but this one is more massive in terms of amount of people fighting and what not.

 **Krolikson** : Perks of Peter's powers, superhuman stamina. Plus, Arkhalla is a queen with a lot of slaves and what not at her command, so she won't have any shortages of blood. Plus she may still have other lovers but in terms of gender, Peter may have possibly ruined her for any other male.

Disclaimer: I don't own any AHR or Marvel characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

The siege against Carcosa was going exactly like Peter had hoped as dusk came several days into he and his men's assault on the city and with the arrival of Arkhalla and the rest of her army. According to what few spiders that remained in the city to report to Peter's widows, discord and chaos had spread throughout the settlement and hundreds have died more from the Carcosain army turning its weapons on the populace then the siege engines that Peter and his men used.

The army itself was splinted, many were thinking of abandoning the city and others wanting to surrender to Arkhalla herself in hopes she'd show them mercy.

Poor fools had no idea how bad that would be. Mercy wasn't really one of Arkhalla's most notable qualities, it was more the lack there of.

"We spare no one when we breach the walls" Arkhalla said to her assembled council as they stood in her tent with a map of the city before them with fairly accurate positions of the Carcosian forces detailed by a number of small little flags.

"I take it that we will not be looking for slaves then my queen?" Bel said as he stared out the tent's opened sides towards the city that was half illuminated by fire and the rest by the moon hanging low in the sky as it continued to rise.

"Correct" Arkhalla nodded as she leaned back in her chair with a thoughtful expression "Most of our Undying are growing hungry and I won't bother giving the order for them to restrain themselves. Tell them they have free reign to feed on whoever still lives within those walls and by the end of the battle if there happens to be a few stragglers, well I guess they will have to do"

Bel nodded before he looked to one of the Vampiric captains and gestured him to leave so that he can spread the Queen's orders to the men.

"What of the Conscripts?" Peter asked as he folded his arms.

"They can have some of the riches and food still intact within" Arkhalla said with a shrug, not particularly caring what the humans will do.

"The Carcosain military head has issued that all food be tightly rationed and stored in a number of areas in the city" Kuthan said as he pointed to several points on the map "And most of them have escaped being touched by the fires"

"So, let them have it. That should shut them up for a while" Bel said with a snort.

"We're going to have make sure they don't pillage all of the food" Arkhalla said with a frown "We still have over a week-long journey back to Ur and I'd rather not have crossed several hundred miles to conquer a city just to lose half my army on the way back because they were foolish to not set aside some for later"

"Me and my men will keep an eye on them" Narama said as she fiddled with one of her arrowheads while she leaned against one of the tent's poles and gazed out at the assembled army with a bored expression.

"Very good" Arkhalla nodded towards the woman before she glanced at the rest of her council "Your excused for the time being…"

"My queen" Bel bowed along with Sin and the others as they began to file out. Peter made to follow when suddenly Lockjaw rushed through some of the legs of the Captains and towards Peter with an excited expression and began to bark repeatedly.

Peter groaned at the small dog's display as it looked up at Peter in excitement as it ran around his legs, much to Arkhalla's amusement as she stood up from her seat and approached the small dog and crouched down to its level.

"So, this is little Lockjaw…" Arkhalla said as she extended a hand out for the mutt to sniff and smiled as it stopped and cautiously approached the queen's hand and began to sniff it.

"Why did you name it Lockjaw?" Narama questioned with a raised brow as she looked over her shoulder at the small thing.

"Because he likes to lock his jaw when he looks at you" Peter said dryly as he watched Lockjaw yap in joy before licking Arkhalla's fingers and palm while he wagged his tail back in forth in joy while Arkhalla scratched his ears, chin and head.

It was then that Peter saw Lockjaw's eyes as the little mutt glanced at him while Arkhalla continued to scratch the dogs chin that Peter felt annoyance flash through him.

The little furry bastard had the gull to look smug as the immortal beauty lavished him with attention. Because of that, Peter would likely be forced to keep the mutt around and even if he does decide to get rid of him, Arkhalla would likely take him in with how much she seems to adore him, meaning Peter was stuck with the yapping animal either way.

' _Oh you little shit…'_ Peter scowled at the dog as it gave him that look of mock innocence as Arkhalla picked him up and cooed at as she scratched his stomach, causing him to lean up and lick the immortal monarch on the face and give out a happy bark.

"Mmm, I like this one…" Arkhalla giggled as Lockjaw reached up and licked the side of her face again.

"Glad you do…" Peter said with a small sigh as he watched Arkhalla play with the small dog while Peter glanced out towards the city of Carcosa "Walls should be about to give in a few places soon and some of your siege towers are ready for use"

"Good" Arkhalla said as she set Lockjaw down and came to stand beside Peter as they and Narama watched the city burn as another volley of siege engines opened fire on the city "I want you to lead the first wave into the city"

"Not Bel?" Narama said with slight surprise. Bel was usually leading the first assault on a city, and if not him then Arkhalla herself.

"It was Peter's planning and alterations to my army that got us this far my dear. Therefore, Peter should have the glory of being the one to first storm the city" Arkhalla said as she idly scratched Lockjaw's head as she gazed out at the distant forms of her siege towers being moved into place.

"Why, would you prefer to lead the charge?" Peter asked as he glanced towards Narama with a curious expression.

"No, I prefer to let you and your men take the arrows that the men of this city are still armed with. That way they'll have little to defend themselves from me and my troops" Narama countered.

"I can't wait to be your arrow shield…" Peter said dryly as he looked to see Arkhalla's gaze was focused on the distant palace of Carcosa with a surprising amount of intensity "My Queen?"

"Shamath is likely being held there" the vampiric monarch said with a small nod "Assuming he's still alive of course"

"What is it about that human you find so appealing?" Narama questioned with a frown.

"You have any idea how hard it is to find a slave that's both obedient and useful?" Arkhalla said with a raised brow.

"She's got you there" Peter commented as he stared at the city with narrowed eyes before he made a humming sound and turned to leave "If you need me, I'll be preparing my men for the inevitable breach of the walls"

"Very good…" Arkhalla said as she returned to playing with Lockjaw while Narama slowly slipped away to her own quarters in preparation for the coming battle.

…

Far to the north in a land covered in snow a single solitary figure clad in a white hooded cloak on top of a large horse slowly made its way down an ice covered road. Bits of grey leather armor could be seen under the cloak of the rider as the occasional breeze would rustle the fabric before it would die down.

The rider's name was Hector and he's been traveling through this frozen tundra for almost a week. He's heard rumors that another survivor of Manda-Han was here, and Hector was hoping to meet with him soon in light of the pale colored rider's discovery in Attilan…

' _Though I wonder if he's heard of the rumor of Maximus's demise… and passed it off as just that, a rumor'_ Hector thought as he gazed up at the dark grey clouds with a frown. He wouldn't blame him, Hector himself didn't believe the rumor until he saw what was left of Maximus the Goliath's body himself.

Hector supposed that even someone as seemingly unkillable as Maximus would run out of luck eventually.

' _Though I had my money on the young brothers Kaine and Peter. Even though Maximus never showed it, he was afraid that they will one day accomplish in killing him somehow'_ Hector thought with a grim chuckle before he suddenly caught a feint sent on the wind, blood.

Hector's eyes narrowed under his helmet as he had one hand drift towards his sword that was hanging on his waist while he used his other senses to keep on alert. The air smelled of death and his instincts told him that he was likely nearing his goal too little too late. He didn't know which was more unsettling as he brought his horse to a stop and glanced around himself for any signs of what was setting him on edge. It was as his gaze was passing over several trees that he saw the faintest marks of something smacking into the bark and what looked like dried frozen blood on the ground in a few places.

Hector slowly climbed off his horse and approached the tree and examined the damage and frozen blood stains with a closer look before he saw that a small trail led a little deeper into the woods. Hector sighed as he drew his sword and slowly followed the trail, being mindful to watch for any signs of a trap.

Minutes passed as Hector moved deeper and deeper into the woods, the signs of a battle growing more and more prevalent. Trees scarred or even knocked over, faint traces of blood still seen on the frozen ground that had yet to be completely buried under snow and ice, vague imprecisions of footprints…

' _A body…'_ Hector thought as he came to a stop at a small mound of snow with a single arm emerging from it, a sword sticking out of it like a marker. He brushed some of the snow and ice away around the arm and moved upwards till he found what he believed to be the head and brushed a bit more of the snow away before he came face to face with the deceased form of Miguel, a once great and powerful captain in their order…

Hector frowned as he looked at the partially frozen face of his friend before he shook his head in sadness and removed a glove to show a pale white hand. Hector placed the exposed hand on Miguel's frozen forehead and closed his eyes as he muttered something in an unknown language before he was greeted to what was the last few minutes of Miguel's life…

…

 _Miguel had to hold back a sigh of frustration as he brought his horse to another stop on an old half overgrown road that hugged a large bay that was filled with massive glaciers floating in it's icy waters._

 _For the past few days the former captain has been trying to navigate himself along the coast towards the city of Asgard where he can resupply but half the roads he's traveled were either filled with snow and ice or were obstructed. At first Miguel thought it was just the nature of the terrain, high winds, lots of ice and the land's less then graceful natives but now he was getting a sinking suspicion that something, someone was intentionally funneling somewhere._

 _And based on his horse's sudden nervous behavior, he was likely right._

 _Miguel's hand drifted towards the handle of one of his swords as he slowly scanned his snowy surroundings. The wind rustling the snow heavy branches and ice made it difficult for him to hear or smell anything and his vision was impaired by the snow fall._

' _I'm starting to regret coming here' Miguel thought as he made to turn his horse when suddenly he felt a tingling at the base of his skull just as his maire reared up in fear, causing him to nearly fall off in surprise "Whoa, hey!"_

 _Suddenly a dagger flew from the trees at speeds that Miguel couldn't even begin to try and follow and imbedded itself into the maire's throat with a sickening thud. The horse let out a chocked scream as it began to topple over while Miguel leaped off and landed in a crouch, both his swords out and at the ready. The spider slowly scanned the tree line for signs of the one that attacked him before a single blur rushed out from the tree line and slammed into Miguel's form before he could try to defend himself, forcing him to drop his swords on to the ground._

 _The man let out a pained groan as he was sent through a small tree, the bark snapping and splintering under the force of which he collided with it. Miguel didn't even get a chance to hit the ground before he was suddenly seized by the throat and raised into the air. Miguel let out a choked cough as he tried to free himself only for the one holding him to chuckle in grim amusement._

" _Yes, yes, that's right little warrior… fight to the bitter end. It's all your kind seems to do anyhow" the silky-smooth voice whispered before it broke into a dark laugh as it's owner suddenly slammed Miguel into the ground, knocking the wind from him._

" _Ow…" Miguel coughed out as he rolled on the ground for a moment before something grabbed his ankle to the point it nearly crushed it before lifting him into the air and flinging him into a nearby tree trunk._

 _The force of the impact caused the tree to shudder and for large amounts of snow to fall from it's branches as Miguel slid to the ground with a pained groan. Miguel shook himself as he glanced up to see the figure that's been attacking him standing there with a small grin on his pale face. Miguel's eyes narrowed as he took in his adversary's appearance._

 _He was tall, taller than Miguel by a few inches and possessed a thin but obviously muscular build on his dark gray leather armor and black cloak. His pitch-black hair reached down to his shoulders and slowly flowed like inky water in the cold wind. The man's pale blue eyes narrowed hungrily at Miguel's form as he took several steps in the snow, his footfalls not making a sound._

" _Don't tell me that's it, thrown through a few trees and your already on the verge of defeat" the figure said in a mocking tone "come now, where's the fabled ferocity of a warrior of the Order or Aranece?"_

 _Miguel growled at the man before he saw one of the handles of his sword lying in the snow and shot a web line out to it. To his dismay and shock, the figure moved in a blur and intercepted the web line, catching just as it was mere inches from his sword's handle. The figure smirked at Miguel's covered but stupefied expression as he examined the web before dropping it to the ground._

" _Now, now, now, let's be a bit more civilized than that" the figure said in an amused tone before he ducked as Miguel shot several web lines towards his face, intent on cutting off his eyesight and perhaps even his ability to breath._

 _Miguel moved towards the figure in a blur, his fist at the ready before he sent it into the stomach of the man with enough force that a regular human's torso would have been torn apart. The figure Miguel hit merely grunted in pain as he stumbled back a few feet. Miguel's eyes widened slightly before they narrowed as he sent a flurry of punches towards the man's faces and torso, each hit creating something almost akin to a shockwave as the unknown assailant was slowly pushed back. But what infuriated Miguel the most aside from the fact that his punches were making little to no damage on the man's slightly bruised face, was that insufferable smirk._

 _Finally, the man seemed to have enough as he suddenly lashed out and grabbed Miguel's incoming fist and held it securely in his grip. Miguel hissed in pain as the man began to apply a crushing grip, nearly shattering the bones in Miguel's wrist before he suddenly did something the man did not expect._

 _Miguel unsheathed five pale bone like claws from his fingertips and slashed the man across the face with a snarl._

" _GAAAAH!" the man shouted as Miguel's claws dug into his flesh, leaving five bleeding red scars on his face before Miguel grabbed him by the nape of his neck and brought him into a painful headbutt, the force of the impact dazed Miguel briefly and seemingly broke the nose of his enemy before Miguel delivered a powerful kick to his chest._

 _Miguel watched as his assailant was sent flying through the air and landed in a large mound of snow and ice. Miguel shot a web line towards the handle of his sword again; this time succeeding and pulled the blade towards him. He then leaped into the air and aimed for the still dazed man, Miguel's sword held in a reverse grip, his intent to drive the blade as deep as possible into his enemy's body. Just as the tip of Migeul's blade was about to pierce the man's torso, he suddenly reached out and stopped the blade just as the tip began to poke into his skin, causing Miguel's eyes to broaden in shock as the pale skinned man looked up at Miguel in dark amusement as the scars on his face began to rapidly heal faster than anything the spider had ever seen before._

" _W-What are you?" Miguel hissed as he tried to push down on the blade with all his strength._

 _The man merely grinned darkly at Miguel as he spoke "Morlun…"_

 _He then snapped the end of Miguel's blade into numerous shards before he seized the man's arm and pulled him towards his face. Miguel yelped in surprise as Morlun's jaws opened to reveal a maw filled with needle sharp teeth that quickly bit into Miguel's armor around his neck and into the still warm flesh underneath._

" _AHHHHH!" Miguel screamed in pain as he tore away from a laughing Morlun, blood seeping from his neck before he stumbled to the ground as his vision began to blur._

 _Morlun made a show of licking his blood smeared mouth as he stood back up and brushed some snow off his shoulders and chest. He then leaned down and picked up Miguel's broken sword and examined it for a moment before he shrugged and began to slowly approach Miguel as he tried to desperately crawl away from the approaching fiend, blood gushing from his neck and on to the ground, coloring the snow and ice in a sickly red color._

 _Morlun had just reached Miguel and was about to run him through with his own sword before the spider powered man suddenly threw a small handful of snow and ice into Morlun's surprised face before he delivered a bone breaking kick into the man's knee cap._

" _GAHHH!" Morlun hissed in pain as he fell to his other knee while Miguel pushed himself up and tired to get as far away from Morlun as he could, his hand pressing down on his still bleeding wound in a vain effort to stem the blood flow._

 _Miguel had no idea how far he made it before Morlun, his leg healed and an enraged expression on his face, appeared in front of the wounded man before smacking him away with the back of his hand._

" _Now, now, who said we were done here little spider?" Morlun growled as Miguel's body was sent flying through several tree branches before he hit a particularly large one that seemed to have snapped his spine if the loud crack emanating from his back was any indication._

" _AHHHH!" Miguel screamed in agony as he fell into a small mound of snow, blood gushing through several points on his body along with his neck._

 _Morlun didn't pay Miguel's agonized screams any mind as he casually strolled over towards the whimpering man, his broken sword still held in his grip. He eventually came to a stop before the bleeding man, his eyes narrowed in amusement as he watched as Miguel struggled to not only stay consciousness but also breathing as his lungs began to fill up with blood. After several moments of silent vigilance, Morlun raised Miguel's broken weapon into the air before stabbing down into the dying spider's chest, tearing through armor, then skin, then bone and finally flesh before the jagged end of Miguel's blade erupted from the other side and into the ground._

 _The former Captain in the Order of Aranece let out a gargled groan as his body went rigid before it slack as blood poured from the chest and back and spilled out on to the snow and ice like a river. Morlun_ _grinned as he stared down at the bleeding warrior of Aranece before his attention was dragged to his left as a new figure emerged from the forest, silent as a specter in the night. Morlun_ _gave the new arrival a small greeting before he returned his attention to Miguel's broken, bleeding body._

" _I thought I smelled you Karn. I was beginning to think that you beat me to this one" Morlun_ _said as he placed a hand on the handle of the blade and pushed it deeper into Miguel's chest, causing him to let out a gargled groan of pain as blood filled his mouth and poured from his chest._

 _The now identified Karn glared at Morlun_ _"I've been tracking this one for over a week. He was mine to kill brother!"_

 _Morlun_ _rolled his eyes at his sibling's remark "Apologies, but I couldn't help myself"_

 _Karn growled at Morlun_ _before he quieted down after a few moments "I take it that the warrior you've been tracking through Latveria has been killed as well?"_

" _Yes" Morlun_ _said with a nod as he suddenly tore the sword from Miguel's body and examined the dripping blood on the blade before he brought it up to his mouth and licked the crimson liquid clean off the metal "Mmmm, that is good"_

 _Karn made a slight sound of disgust as Morlun_ _licked every inch of blood off the sword before he plunged the sword back into Miguel's body with a sigh before he turned on his heel and begun to distance himself from the now dead spider._

" _Come little Karn, I'm told there's been sightings of another warrior of Aranece that's joined up with the supposed 'Undying Queen' of Ur. Perhaps I'll let you have this one as a sort of apology for stealing this one from you, yes?" Morlun_ _said with a chuckle as the two began to leave Miguel's body in the snow and ice._

…

Hector was suddenly back in the real world, his neck and shoulders covered in a medium layer of snow as he laid kneeling before Miguel's long frozen corpse. The man let out a tired sigh as he slipped his glove back on before standing and casting a sad look towards his former Captain.

"I'm sorry that I was too late to warn your Miguel…" Hector said as he turned back towards his horse "I wish I could give you the proper burial rights but time is sadly not on my side. Your killers, and others like him seem to be hunting what is left of us down one by one. With you dead, that now makes seven which means there's only ten of us left. I need to warn the others before it's too late"

He let out a heavy sigh as he began to make his way back towards his whining horse and grabbed it's reigns and began to pull it away from the clearing that his dead friend laid and back towards the road that would take him south "If it's any consolation Miguel, I shall make sure this Morlun and the rest of his family burn for this injustice"

His declaration was met with cold silence as he guided his horse through the trees as Miguel's body was slowly buried in snow and ice.

…

Peter remained silent as he stood before his troops, all armed and armored for the breech of the city's walls. Several hours ago, one of the siege engines made a literal breakthrough in Carcosa's defenses and knocked down a large chunk of it's wall with a few well-placed hits. It didn't collapse completely, but it did provide a chink in the armor as the saying goes for the siege engines to focus their fire. And based on the current state of the section of wall that they've been hitting for the past few hours, it was going to give any minute now.

' _And the Carosaians know it, if them pulling back what few archers they have there and the amassing of troops on the other side is anything to go on'_ Peter thought as he saw Nobu had come to stand beside him, geared up and ready for the final stages of the siege.

"The men are ready, now all we have to do, is wait" the man said in a plain tone.

Peter hummed at that before he glanced up at the sky, the stars were blocked by numerous foreboding black clouds and large amounts of smoke from the still raging fires in the city "How long till daybreak?"

"Six hours" Nobu responded as he drew his sword and examined it's edges.

Peter nodded at that has he folded his arms "I give this city four hours after we breach it before it's the Undying Queen's"

Nobu hummed at that "I give it three at best"

"No confidence in this city's defenders?" Peter asked with grim amusement "You'd be surprised how hard and how long men cornered like these ones are will fight when faced with such overwhelming odds"

"Perhaps… if we breeched their walls and attacked a yesterday, but by now… they are broken, divided" Nobu said with an indifferent shrug "They will all die, without honor and terrified"

Peter chuckled at that as he heard the tell-tell sounds of stone beginning to crumble and come loose as another barrage of rocks collided against the battered and burned walls of Carcosa "Nobu, remind me to have you give our men an inspiring speech should we ever find ourselves in a seemingly hopeless situation"

What ever he was about to say was interrupted by the sounds of several men gasping and calling attention to the sight of another barrage of flaming artillery projectiles colliding with the heavily damaged section of wall. Peter watched as large chunks of stone began to break free and fall to the ground, shattering on impact into several small but still large chunks of rock as the weaning wall was hit again and again by the Urian siege engines. After several tense moments, another barrage hit the weak point and the last of the wall came tumbling down, part of it fell outwards towards the army, while the rest collapsed inwards. A large cloud of dust, smoke and fire was kicked into the air, causing a number of Peter's men to let out shouts of joy and eagerness at what had finally been accomplished.

The walls, albeit a small portion, had been breached.

"Well boys, best not keep them waiting!" Peter shouted as he held up his arm, his blade extending forth with a distinct metal 'SNIKT' and pointed towards the now fairly decent sized gap in the heavily damaged wall as numerous horns were blown farther back, signals for the scattered siege towers to begin advancing on the walls.

The various Vampiric soldiers and human conscripts let out numerous loud shouts and roars as they charged towards the now breached wall and into Carcosa, screaming, roaring and banging their weapons together in a dark blood curling sympathy as they funneled through the hole that the Carcosians tried to defend but were quickly overrun.

And soon, the terrified and agonizing screaming began to fill the air, one street at a time...

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, Carcosa burns...


	12. Chapter 12

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **chimera629** : Any 'Spider-women' that survived the Order's destruction have already been hunted down and killed by Morlun and the rest.

 **Spawn Hades** : Eh something like that will happen.

 **gunman** : Hector's name is new, but he's based loosely off the 'Ghost Spider' from the Ultimate spider-man cartoon. No, no 'Spider-women' will be appearing except at the most, in flashbacks. What very few survived Manda-Han have already been killed off by Morlun and the others.

 **Speed Racer** : Thanks, wasn't really going for beauty when it comes to mass whole sale slaughter but still appreciated none the less.

 **mpowers045** : Yes, she will.

 **rmarcano321** : Technically Peter has the same standing as General Bel, but if he accepts Arkhalla's offer, he'll be Bel's superior.

 **Warning: Extremely dark acts this chapter! Attempted Rape, infanticide, mutilation and everything in between will be going down here, gave plenty of warnings beforehand, so… here it is.**

 **Don't say I didn't give you all ample warning before this whole event went down.**

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

The sacking of Carcosa was going well, Bel thought as he viciously cut down any Carcosian that crossed his path, be they man, woman or child. The few remaining soldiers of Carcosa's army tried to fight back when and where they could but the Undying legions of Ur easily cut them down, and in some cases tore them apart and began to devour them right then and there.

Arkhala and her men had already moved ahead of Bel and his soldiers, intent on killing Carcosa's rulers before they escaped. Bel would have joined her, but he soon became lost in the wholesale butchering of the Carcosains. He also had a lot of pent up frustration he wanted to vent out and the men and women and children of Carcosa proved to be excellent targets for his wrath.

"Remember men, NO QUARTER, NO MERCY!" Bel shouted as he decapitated a Carcosian woman before he took her still twitching body and flung it towards several Carcosian warriors trying to flank him.

Bel watched with dark glee as the headless woman's body knocked the men down before they were suddenly pounced on by several Vampiric warriors. The men let out horrified screams as the undead warriors began to tear into their flesh with their elongated nails and teeth. Blood splattered across the Urian soldiers faces as they tore chunks of warm flesh from the Carcosian warriors.

Bel laughed at the gruesome display before he saw something that caught his eye, a rather beautiful woman with two children with her, one an infant barely a few months old and another that appeared to be four or five. But Bel's eyes were for the woman…

Long golden blonde hair that reached the middle of her back, a pair of ample breasts that easily surpassed even the Undying Queen's, and green eyes glowed like emeralds in the moon light. The only thing that ruined her image in bel's opinion were the two crying children she had with her.

' _Easily fixed'_ Bel thought with a dark laugh as he followed after the woman as his men continued to butcher the city's populace around them.

Bel licked his lips as he took in her form as she and her children tried to get to safety, avoiding several Urian patrols, mainly conscripts, before suddenly several Nightwalkers appeared and cut off her and her children's escape as they made it to a rather large square not too far from the main gate. Before the woman could figure out what to do for her and her children, Bel was behind her with a dark smirk on his bloodied face.

"Hello my dear…" Bel purred at the woman as he leered at her terror stricken form.

The woman backed away from Bel, placing her oldest son behind her and keeping her hold on her youngest with a firm grip. Bel chuckled at this before he suddenly seized the baby from the woman's arms, knocking her to the ground before she could react. Bel gazed down at the crying babe in his hands before he suddenly threw it to the ground, silencing the infant with a sickening 'thud' before he grabbed the now dead infant's older sibling by the neck and threw him towards the drooling Nightwalkers who quickly seized the screaming child and began to tear him apart.

The mother let out a horrified scream as she watched before Bel silenced her with a k9ck to her stomach, knocking the wind from her "Enough out of you wrench"

The woman let out a chocked sob as she tried to catch her breath before Bel grabbed her by the hair and began to drag her towards a nearby building. Bel smirked as he felt her try to struggle against his inhuman strength before he threw her through the doorway and watched as she slammed into the wall inside. Bel licked his lips as he entered after her, pausing only to close the door to offer himself a bit of privacy before he returned his attention towards the sobbing woman before him.

"By the gods below your beautiful" he said as he kneeled down and cupped her face, admiring how her eyes glowed as she cried.

He brought her into a forceful kiss, ignoring her attempts to push him off before he pulled away with a satisfied smile. He backhanded her again, knocking what little fight she still had left in her before he roughly tore off the top part of her blood stained dress and marveled at her breasts.

Bel licked his lips as he ran a hand over the crying woman's exposed tit, squeezing it roughly before he licked the nipple with his blood-stained tongue. The woman whimpered even more as bel's tongue traveled across her chest and up to her neck before he pulled back with a hungry expression on his face.

"Yes… you'll do" he said as he pushed the woman's tattered dress up even further and placed his palm on her sex.

His other hand then moved towards his own pants and began to quickly unbuckle them before he pulled his hardened member out and lined it up with the weeping Carcosian girl. He was just about to plunge into her before suddenly a knife soared pass Bel's head and embedded itself into the woman's skull, killing her instantly and causing Bel to stumble back in surprise.

"What in the nine hells?!" he said in outrage before he looked behind himself to see Peter standing there.

"Sorry Bel, but I didn't feel like waiting for you to finish" Peter said as he watched the enraged General pull his pants back on.

"I should rip your head from your body!" Bel hissed at Peter with narrowed eyes.

Peter stared at Bel for a moment before he held his arms up "Well your more then welcome to try General"

Bel's fury rose even further as he heard the mocking tone in Peter's comment. The several hundred-year-old man took several deep calming breaths before he refocused his attention on Peter "Why are you here? Your supposed to be securing the markets!"

"Already have" Peter said with a simple shrug as he turned his head towards the dead woman at Bel's feet "Thought I'd come see how you and the Undying Queen were fairing…"

Bel felt himself bristle at the hidden look that Peter gave him when the spider enhanced man returned his gaze to the Immortal General. Before either man could say another word, a Undying Captain was suddenly in the doorway, his armor every bit as bloodstained as Peter and Bel's with bits of gore hanging from his mouth.

"General…" the captain started before he noticed Peter was there.

"Yes, what is it?" Bel demanded impatiently towards the younger Vampire.

The captain swallowed nervously as both of his superiors seemed to bore into his very being "General, the Queen has pushed ahead of the main force to the palace"

"She what?" Peter suddenly said, displeasure evident in his tone.

The captain flinched at Peter's sudden outburst while Bel merely grunted "She seems determined to kill Carcosa's royal family before they can escape"

Peter turned towards bel with a scowl underneath his helmet "She's also running the risk of being cut off from us. The palace is surrounded by hundreds of Carcosian soldiers"

"She will not fall" Bel said with a wave of his hand as he passed Peter and the Captain and made his way outside into the square to see that a number of his men had already began to feed on the captured humans.

Most of them were young men and women with a few children having already been torn up and shared amongst the more ravenous members of the army. Bel nodded in satisfaction and began to search the still living humans for a suitable woman to indulge in before Peter was suddenly in front of him in a blur. Decades of experience were all that kept Bel from flinching as Peter leaned in ever so slightly.

"Aren't you going to gather a force to re-enforce the Queen?" Peter asked.

Bel's eyes narrowed as his hand drifted ever so closer t his blade's handle "The Queen as sufficient protection and if that should fail, she's more powerful then you believe her to be"

"So your willing to bet that the Queen's guard, which last time I checked was made of only a dozen Undying, can protect her from several hundred half starved, desperate men?" Peter said before he shook his head "You overestimate your Undying Bel"

"They haven't failed her yet" Bel countered with an edge in his voice "Nor will they ever, they are not like your long dead pathetic companions, they have been trained for decades to be the best of the best in our army. No one will be able to touch her without going through them first… and if you don't believe that human, then your every bit as daft as the rest of your extinct order!"

Silence echoed through the square as the various Undying soldiers watched Peter stare at Bel for several long tension filled moments before he suddenly turned on his heel and began to walk away, much to the immortal General's annoyance and anger.

"And where are you going?"

Peter didn't even bother to stop when he answered "To do your job and make sure that the Undying Queen is safe Bel"

Bel growled at Peter and made to follow after the man before Peter suddenly grabbed a sword from one of the passing Undying soldiers and threw it over his shoulder, towards Bel. The vampiric man's eyes widened in shock as he ducked under the blade and watched as the pointed edge planted itself deep into the head of a woman he was planning on helping himself to.

Bel's eyes narrowed in anger as he turned to see that Peter was already gone.

"Bastard…"

It was then that Bel saw that a number of his men were looking at him with various expressions, none of them settling well for the General. Feeling anger at being embarrassed in front of his own men by an outsider he turned on his heel with a growl "What are you all waiting for? BACK TO WORK!"

The various undead soldiers quickly scattered and departed from the square, leaving only Bel to stand there and seethe in silence as the screams of hundreds echoed around him and all throughout the city…

…

Not from the square, Peter was quickly making his way through the besieged city, using a combination of his speed, agility and even his webs to traverse the various streets and buildings.

The hundreds of soldiers, both human and Vampire, had slowed him down in a few areas, but for the most part he was covering a substantial amount of ground and was just about to reach the outer wall of Carcosa's impressively large palace when he suddenly felt an almost painful flareup at the base of his skull.

' _The hell?'_ Peter thought with confusion, he hadn't felt his power flare up like that in since the battle of Manda-Han.

It was than that Peter heard a faint metallic click and just made out some sort of shadow rising behind him, preparing to strike. Peter quickly leaped away from his current position and looked to see what appeared to be a man, at least he thinks it's a man in some sort of dark green leather armor with metal plating along the chest that possessed a faded yellow scorpion shaped symbol, arms that ended with pincer like devices just above his hands and a hunched like back with a large metallic tail attached to it. The man's head was covered in a crude metal mask that looked vaguely similar to that of a scorpion's face with jagged bits of metal acting as sort of pinchers and two glowing yellow eyes.

Another thing that Peter noticed about this man was that he stood a good foot and a half taller than Peter and was built like a mountain.

Peter stared at the individual as he felt the odd tingling in the back of his head continue as a steady buzz. Whatever this man was, it was quite possibly the most dangerous thing in the entire city, to him and just about everyone else.

' _Nice of my widows to mention this thing running around here'_ Peter thought with an annoyed scowl as he activated his arm's blade and held the metal up towards the still and silent 'scorpion' "So, I take it that Carcosa hired you?"

"…"

Peter nodded at that "Thought so… would you be willing to let Ur double the price Carcosa's paid you?"

"…"

Peter tensed as the tingling increased in intensity and watched as the 'Scorpion' suddenly tensed and his tail began to move ever so slightly.

"Quick question before we do this" Peter said as he nodded towards the man's tail "How are you able to move that thing? Is it a part of you or is it something else?"

" **Grrr…"** the Scorpion growled before it moved with a burst of speed that Peter for the life of him could barely follow.

He slashed at the approaching blur with his sword only for it to meet air as the Scorpion ducked under the blade and slammed his hand into Peter's torso. The metal cracked and groaned under the force of the blow and Peter swore he felt a rib or two crack as he was sent flying through the air.

' _Never been hit that hard before…'_ Peter thought as he tired to regain his breath as he slammed into a burning building, through several stone and wooden walls and out through the other end and into a corpse ridden street.

"Okay, ow…" Peter said as he finally came to a painful stop next to a pile of burnt, fly infested corpses.

Peter shook his head as he pushed himself back up before he felt the tingling at the base of his skull again. Without thinking, he leaped away from where he was just as the Scorpion's knee slammed into the ground, cracking the stone and creating a small tremor from the sheer force of the impact. The Scorpion growled at Peter as he landed a few meters away in a crouch and glanced back at the powerful man.

Peter glanced down at his chest and frowned as he saw the extent of the damage, in all his years, he's never been hit that hard, even by other members of his Order. He glanced back up at the man with narrowed eyes "What on Earth are you?"

His question was met with silence, prompting Peter to sigh before he leaped at the green colored man with his fist raised and his blade out, intent on skewing the beast. The Scorpion watched as Peter neared before suddenly lashing out with his hand and catching Peter's fist, stopping it cold while the pinchers above its hands caught the blade. Peter's eyes widened under his helm as he could feel his opponent actually pushing his fist back while the pinchers began to dig into the metal of his arm sword. He gritted his teeth and began to try and resist before he saw the Scorpion's tail raise into the air before it's stinger raced towards him.

' _Uh-oh'_ Peter thought before he moved his body to the side as far as he could or risk having the stinger on the end of the Scorpion's tail impale him.

Thankfully, the stinger missed his chest, but Peter couldn't stop the stinger from cutting deep into his armor's side as it raced past him and imbedded itself into the ground behind him. Peter had to hold back a groan of pain as he felt blood begin to pour from his side, it seemed the stinger dug a lot deeper into his armor than he hoped. The Scorpion growled as it seized Peter by the throat with his other hand, the pinchers located above his hands securing themselves around Peter's head and vegan to squeeze.

Peter's sixth sense went into overdrive as his airway was cut off and the Scorpion began to try and crush his head. The former Aranece warrior began to panic as he saw his vision darkening and his lungs beginning to burn from the lack of oxygen. Peter took his remaining hand and formed it into a fist before he began to punch the Scorpion wherever he could.

Chest, sides, arms, even the head, Peter struck the green armored fiend as hard as he could in the hopes of loosening the Scorpion's hold on him. The green clad being seemed to be aware of this and growled in anger as it began to squeeze even harder on Peter's neck, intent on either suffocating him or outright crushing his throat.

' _Dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!_ ' Peter thought with growing panic as he struggled to stay awake while still hammering into the Scorpion with everything he had.

Eventually Peter's fist made contact with the Scorpion's throat, causing the larger man to let go of Peter and back away in response and giving the shorter man time to breath. Peter let out several coughs before he was forced to dodge the Scorpion's tail again. The barbed stinger just passed centimeters over Peter's head as he ducked before he shot upwards and rammed his still drawn blade right into the green armored man's gullet.

" **Grrr?"** the Scorpion sounded as it looked down at the sword imbedded in his torso.

Peter blinked at the response "Ummm… shouldn't you be on the ground dead by now?"

The Scorpion hissed at Peter as it grabbed his arm and pulled Peter closer and by proxy the blade deeper into his body. The larger man hissed, more in anger at Peter then pain as it suddenly wrapped it's tail around Peter's neck and lifted him into the air, tearing the blade out of his torso in the process.

Peter tried to tear the tail off from around his neck, even hacking at it with his blade in an attempt to several the deadly limb. Peter's efforts were rewarded with a dull clang as the blade bounced of the metal of the Scorpion's tail, causing Peter's eyes to widen in shock.

"Ah shi-" he started before he was slammed into the ground by the Scorpion before thrown through the air and further down the street.

Peter's armored body bounced and skidded across the blood-stained street until he was able to leap back up on to his feet with a handspring just in time to see the Scorpion had leaped into the air and was coming towards him with a dark growl. Peter narrowly avoided the armored knee to the face as he ducked out of the way and watched as the Scorpion landed on the ground with a heavy thud, his knee cracking the stone beneath him.

Peter used this opportunity to jump on the Scorpion's back, narrowly missing the tail's stinger before he raised his blade and stabbed it into the small thin spacing along the Scorpion's spine. The act caused the green armored man to let out a inhuman roar of pain as he began to thrash about. The former Aranece warrior struggled to maintain his hold on the large man as he ripped his blade out and stabbed it into the Scorpion's back again and again, each time making sure to hit different vertebrae in attempt to either kill or cripple his larger, stronger adversary.

"By the gods why wont you just die already!" Peter shouted in outrage as he tore his blade free from the Scorpion's bleeding back, intent on driving the blade into the man's skull when he suddenly jumped back into a nearby building, using Peter's body as a cushion.

The force of the impact knocked the wind out of Peter, along with he himself off the heavily panting Scorpion. Peter let out a pained groan as he made to stand up before the Scorpion suddenly slammed his foot on to Peter's back, denting the armor plating and causing Peter to yelp in pain as some of the metal dug into his back.

" **Grrr…"** the Scorpion growled as it reached down and grabbed Peter's activated arm blade with a blood stained hand before it suddenly tore up, snapping the metal in two.

Peter's eyes widened at the destruction of his weapon before howling in pain as the Scorpion rammed the broken end of the sword into Peter's shoulder, pinning him to the ground.

"GAAAHHHH! Son of a concubine!" Peter gritted his teeth in pain as he tried to move only for the Scorpion to pin his head to the ground with one of his pincers.

" **HSSSSS"** the larger man hissed darkly as he stared down at Peter with rage in his eyes as his tail came to stand above his head, the stinger aimed right for the back of Peter's skull.

The Scorpion's tail raised a little as it prepared to strike before several arrows bounced off the inhuman being's armor. The Scorpion glanced at the direction the arrows were fired from and was greeted to the sight of over a dozen Urian warriors, all conscripts. Several of the men started to shake as the Scorpion glared at them before it stepped off Peter… and then kicked him towards the humans.

"Look o-" one of the men began before Peter's body slammed into his, breaking his entire rib cage and collar bone, and that of the man behind him as Peter's armored figure continued onwards and into the building behind the group of men.

The Urian conscripts gaped at the hole Peter made before the low grunt of the Scorpion dragged their eyes back to the slowly approaching beast. The men shook in fear as the Scorpion crouched before leaping at them with an inhuman roar, his pinchers and stinger at the ready.

…

"Okay… that hurt… a lot" Peter groaned as he laid in the center of a burned out building, his entire body screaming in pain.

Several of his ribs felt like they were either broken or cracked and vision was a little blurry. Peter let out a hiss of pain as he slowly forced himself back to his feet, doing his best to ignore the pain racing through his battered body until he was standing on both feet. He winced as he felt his back flare up before he heard the screams of the Urian solders outside followed by the monstrous screech of the Scorpion.

"By the Gods, what the hell is this thing?" Peter wondered aloud as he made his way to the nearest wall still standing and leaned against it as he tired to catch his breath.

Not since Manda-Han as Peter been pushed this far by anything, in fact the vast legions of the Goblin King, including some of the tyrants own Lieutenants seemed tame in comparison to the green armored creature rampaging outside.

"Have to kill that thing…" Peter said to himself as he pushed himself off the wall "Arkhalla's army will be massacred by that thing"

It was than that Peter felt he familiar buzzing in the back of his head, causing him to groan "Oh come on-"

His complaint was interrupted by a metal scorpion tail piercing through the wall and nearly impaling him through the chest. Peter let out a startled yelp as he backed away from the wall just as the Scorpion tore through the stone with a growl. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Peter as he raised his stinger towards him. Peter watched the stinger for a moment while casting discreet glances at the walls around him and the slowly approaching Scorpion.

' _This structure has a lot of damage, most of the walls are barely holding together…'_ Peter thought before he jumped out of the way as the Scorpion's stinger embedded itself into the ground.

Peter used that opportunity to shoot several strands of webbing at the Scorpion's tail, holding it in place and causing the Scorpion to grunt in surprise. Unwilling to let this opportunity pass, Peter webbed the Scorpion's feet to the ground and shot several globs of web at the larger man's torso and arms to keep him restrained for as long as possible while Peter shot multiple web lines out several different points in the surrounding walls and a few to the ceiling. After several seconds Peter pulled the lines until they were tight before he glanced at the struggling Scorpion with a smirk under his damaged mask.

The Scorpion stopped and glared at Peter for a second before the warrior of Aranece pulled the lines, tearing chucks of wall off and weakening the structure's flimsy support. Chunks of stone and wood began to fall from the ceiling and the walls began to crack and fall apart around the two arachnid powered humans. Peter didn't bother to stick around as he rushed towards the hole his body made when the Scorpion kicked him earlier, using a combination of his reflexes, speed, agility and sixth sense to navigate through the collapsing building, all the while listening to the Scorpion letting out a series of enraged roads before they were silenced as numerous wooden support beams fell on to his restrained from, burying him under hundreds of pounds of wood and stone.

Peter had just made it through the hole in the wall when the rest of the structure finally gave away and collapsed, covering the area in a combination of smoke and dust, causing Peter to cough a little as some of the debris got through the dents and breaches in his helmet.

"Great… it's gonna… takes days to fix this…" Peter said in between coughs before he glanced at the now ruined building for any signs of the Scorpion man.

After several moments, and no tingling at the base of his skull, Peter let out a sigh of relief "Finally…"

He then turned his attention to Carcosa's palace and had just taken several steps towards it when he heard the sound of rubble shifting and the tingling at the base of his skull start up again. Peter groaned at this "Oh come on-"

Peter's complaint was cut off as the Scorpion erupted from the destroyed building, his armor torn and dented and his tail dragging uselessly behind him. The green armored beast roared in rage as it glared at Peter with his exposed pale green eyes glaring holes into Peter's form. The mask that covered his mouth had been torn off in the collapse, exposing a bleeding mouth filled with sharp needle like teeth.

" **HSSSSSS!"** the Scorpion hissed in anger as he climbed his way out of the pile of wood, stone and mortar.

' _I drop a building on top of him and he's still moving… how in the seven hells do I kill this thing?'_ Peter thought with growing dread, already he could feel his body struggling to even keep standing.

He needed to end this fight, fast.

Peter was dragged out o his musings by the scorpion as it tore off one of it's heavily damaged pincers and threw it to the ground with a grunt. Peter watched the Scorpion closely with narrowed eyes as he crouched low, ready to move the moment he see's an opening.

' _Hmm… seems like he can't use his tail anymore'_ Peter thought as he watched the tail lay harmlessly on the ground, the stinger at the end having been broken off.

After a few seconds, Peter came up with a way to finish off the Scorpion. It wasn't the most dramatic or story worthy method, but Peter was willing to wager that it'll do the trick.

' _Especially since I won't have to worry about that tail impaling me anymore'_ Peter thought with a grim smile as he rolled his shoulders and flexed his hands before he shot several web projectiles at the Scorpion.

The large green armored brute growled in annoyance as the hardened projectiles assaulted his form, some of them making hitting the Scorpion in the now exposed eyes, causing him to flinch and back away in response. Peter used that opportunity to move towards the growling beast, using every ounce of speed he had lift to cover the distance before the Scorpion could react.

The Scorpion seemed to sense this and sent out a slash with his last remaining pincer. Peter leaped over the deadly appendage and rammed his knee right into the Scorpion's face with as much force as he could muster at this point.

 **KOOOOM!**

The force of the blow caused the Scorpion to stumble back in both pain and surprise while Peter landed behind him in a crouch. Then suddenly Peter leaped on to the Scorpion's back and seized his head with both hands, using his adhesive abilities to remain connected to the stumbling brute. Peter gritted his teeth as he slowly began to force the Scorpion's neck to turn, causing the green brute to struggle even further as it sensed what Peter was trying to do. His damaged tail tried to slam into Peter but the heavily damaged limb could barely raise several inches before it fell back to the ground. The Scorpion hissed in rage as it tried to seize Peter with it's pincher only for Peter to quickly let go with one hand and shoot a thick coating of web on to the pincher, webbing it shut.

" **RAAAAHHH!"** the Scorpion roared in rage as he thrashed about, intent to throw Peter off as it tried to force it's neck in the opposite direction of where Peter was trying to turn it.

Peter grunted in annoyance as he continued his course of action, slowly shifting the Scorpion's neck with every ounce of strength he still possessed until-

 **KRAKKK!**

The Scorpion's body suddenly went limp as it fell to the ground and Peter rolled off his body with a received sigh.

"Finally…" Peter said as he sat up on his knees and removed his helmet to spit out a glob of blood that's been building in his mouth before he warily glanced at the still form of the Scorpion and paled a little at what he saw…

The Scorpion was still alive, and his eyes were following Peter's every movement. Thankfully, in Peter's mind, that was the only thing the battered beast could move. After several moments, Peter slipped his helmet back on and slowly approached the large man before he crouched near his head, looking directly into the Scorpion's eyes.

Peter stared at him for several moments, his head quirked to the side a little before he spoke "Question, you wouldn't happen to be related to the Order of Aranece, would you?"

"…"

Peter nodded at that "Yeah, I figured you'd say that…"

Peter then glanced up towards the palace and made to move before he heard a deep growl from the man before him.

" **They are coming…"**

Peter paused and glanced back at the Scorpion with a confused look on his face "Come again?"

The Scorpion's eyes seemed to stare straight into Peter's soul as he spoke again, this time his voice much softer as the light began to fade from his eyes **"They… are… coming… for you…"**

Peter blinked at the statement as the Scorpion took his last breath before his body stilled and the life drained from his eyes and they glossed over. Several moments of silence passed as Peter stared at the body of his foe before his sixth sense and enhanced hearing detected over a dozen Carcosian soldiers approaching his location. Peter's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he turned to see the blood stained warriors emerge from a street, seemingly on the hunt for Urian soldiers before they stopped dead at the sight of Peter, and the one laying on the ground behind him.

"Well… who's next?" Peter asked as the men's looks of shock turned to rage.

"Kill him!" one of them shouted as they charged towards Peter with their swords and spears at the ready.

Peter simply stood there until they were only a few meters away, and then… he moved in a blur.

…

Arkhalla had to hold back a hiss of pain as she slowly climbed the blood stained stair case to Carcosa's royal place with her last surviving guard. The rest having been killed earlier by some large man adorned in green armor and resembled some sort of Scorpion. It would have likely killed her had it not suddenly left, it's attention apparently drawn somewhere else.

' _And there's only one thing in Carcosa currently that could have possibly done that… Peter'_ Arkhalla thought with a frown as she turned back to glanced at the burning city below.

She saw that her army was quickly advancing towards the city center and the remaining Carcosian soldiers were doing their best to mount a resistance against the seemingly endless hordes of Undying and Urian conscripts. For every Urian killed, be they mortal or not, at east ten Carcosians followed soon afterwards.

"My queen…?" Arkhall's last remaining guard said as he noticed that his monarch had stopped and was gazing at the devastation below.

Arkhalla turned her attention back to her guard and nodded as she walked past him "Come, we still have a Carcosian king and Queen to dispose of"

"Yes my lady" the guard said as he obediently followed after Arkhalla into the palace.

They didn't encounter much resistance, most of the guards having been either killed by Peter's spiders during the first part of the siege or were down in the city below, dying in a valiant but futile attempt to stop Arkhalla's legions. Arkhalla passed a few nobles and servants that still lurked in the palace, seeking shelter from the nightmare outside, she payed them little mind.

They would be dealt with sooner or later by her men.

It was than that Arkhalla and her guard came upon the throne room of the palace which also held a large opening that allowed the rulers of Carcosa to look down at their city. Arkhalla payed it no mind as she gazed at the throne of Carcosa and saw that the king of the now conquered city was sitting there… with his throat slit.

"What a pity…" Arkhalla said with a smirk as she approached the throne, idly noticing that the man's queen laid only a few meters away with an equally slit throat.

"He killed himself" her guard muttered before he glanced at the dead Carcosian queen "And his woman"

Arkhalla was about to agree before she noticed something off about the man's slit throat, it looked wrong. The depth and height of the wound didn't seem to match up. For starters the wound looked like it was caused by a sword rather than a dagger, the depth of the wound also gave indication that the king couldn't have done it to himself…

"It appears that someone has robbed me of killing the rulers of this city…" Arkhalla sighed in annoyance.

"Do you think it was the monster we encountered earlier?" the guard asked as his eys scanned the vast throne room, having noticed that there were a number of pillars and statutes that the beast he saw earlier could comfortably hide behind.

"No, the wounds are too clean, that animal we saw would have left the body nigh unrecognizable" Arkhalla commented as she neared the throne.

When she was just a few meters from it, the large statue of Carcosa's patron god suddenly moved before it began to fall towards the Undying Queen and her guard. Arkhalla leaped out of the way the moment she saw that the statute was intending to land on her, her guard was less fortunate as he only had time to let out a yell of surprise before he was crushed under several tones of stone.

Arkhalla landed in a crouch and moved to stand up before a chunk of stone from the now destroyed statue was thrown right into her face. Arkhalla let out a startled yelp as her helm was knocked free and a deep cut was left on her forehead from where the jazzed stone hit her.

The Urian monarch shook her head to try and clear her vision before she saw a large man with a equally large broadsword leap at her with a war cry. Arkhalla quickly brought her own blade up and blocked the man's attack. However, a combination of the man's momentum and size pushed Arkhalla back far enough for her to slip on several pieces of stone from the destroyed statue.

"AHHHH!" the man yelled as he raised his blade again, intent to kill Arkhalla before she suddenly shot her foot out and kicked the man right into his armored torso.

The metal cracked and groaned under her strength and forced the man to stumble back in pain, allowing Arkhalla to rise to her feet, her blade at the ready as she glared at the human.

The large man raised his blade towards Arkhalla with a snarl "You'll pay for what you've done to my country wrench!"

Arkhalla hissed at the man before she noticed something odd about his blade… it was already covered in blood. Her brow furrowed in confusion before she noticed that the blood on the man's weapon smelled awfully similar to the now dead Carcosian monarchs. Her frown turned into a dark grin at this revelation.

"Says the man that would murder his own lord"

The man bristled at this before he growled "I saved him from a fate worse than death!"

"Did you say that to him before or after you slit his throat?" Arkhalla asked with a chuckle "You humans, always trying to find a noble reason to justify your lust for bloodshed"

The man yelled in rage and charged at Arkhalla with surprising speed for a human of his size. Arkhalla, not wanting to be on the defensive, met him halfway and swiped his blade to the side with hers before she slashed him across the chest, the metal of her sword leaving a deep tear and even drawing blood from the man.

The Carcosian General stumbled back before he glared at Arkhalla before he attacked again, using the pain to motivate him. Arkhalla ducked under the swipe before she sent a powerful jab into the man's side, knocking the wind from him before she smacked the General across the face with the butt of her sword, knocking several teeth loose. As the man stumbled backing, gripping his bleeding mouth, Arkhalla delivered a brutal kick to his chest, completely destroying his armor and sending him flying several meters back. The General slammed into the wall, the stone cracking slihglty as he slumped to the floor with a pained groan.

"Well, if I can't kill the rulers of Carcosa, I suppose their 'savior' will do" Arkhalla grinned darkly as she approached the man.

She came to a stop just a few feet from him and began to reach down to grab him when he suddenly turned and slashed Arkhalla across the eyes with a small dagger he withdrew from his belt.

"AHHH!" Arkhalla screamed in pain as she stumbled back and gripped her bleeding eyes.

The General used this moment to climb back to his feet before he grabbed a fistful of Arkhalla's hair and brought her face into his knee, nearly breaking her nose before he held her bleeding face up and slammed his fist into it. Arkhalla's head snapped to the side before it was pulled back into another punch from the general before he kicked her to the ground.

Arkhalla let out a pained hiss as she instinctively kicked out at the General when he tried to grab her again, hitting his arm and nearly breaking it.

"GAAAHHH!" he shouted as he stumbled back, gripping his arm in pain before he glared at Arkhalla's form before he noticed his sword lying only a few feet away. He slowly approached his weapon before he picked it up and examined it for any damage before nodding in satisfaction and came to stand before Arkhalla as she tried to desperately clear her healing eyes of the blood.

The Carcosian General glared down at Arkhalla before he snarled and raised his sword high into the air, intent on severing her head from it's body "You bitch. For my city. For my people!"

Just as he was about to swing down, a blade suddenly erupted from the General's chest, causing his eyes to widen in shock before blood began to pour from his mouth. Arkhalla had just cleared her eyes in time to see the general collapse to his knees, having dropped his weapon as his hands shakily move towards the blade emanating from his chest. Behind him still a bloodied, battered Peter who was breathing rather heavily, still recovering from his fight with the Scorpion and having just fought through close to a hundred men to catch up to Arkhalla.

Before Arkhalla could say anything, Peter grabbed the man by the head with his hands and with a sudden twist, tore it clean off. Blood sprayed from the now gaping hole in the man's upper torso while his severed head's mouth and eyes opened and closed sporadically before ceasing, the spine hanging uselessly beneath covered in blood and gore.

"So… about that offer you made me, is it still good?" Peter asked as he tossed the man's head over his shoulder and listed to it make a wet thud against the cracked stone.

Arkhalla didn't respond as she slow rose back to her feet and stared at the bloodstained and battered warrior before her for several moments before she dropped her sword to the ground, ripped a startled and surprised Peter's helmet off and brought the man into a heated kiss. Peter's eyes remained open in shock for several moments as Arkhalla's tongue breached his mouth and began to slowly dominate his own tongue before his hands slowly made their way to her hips and gripped them as he began to fight back.

Soon more bits of their armor were shed and before long, Arkhalla bare as the day she was born and covered in blood, and was on her back with her arms wrapped around Peter's neck and her legs around his waist as he inserted himself into her aching core, all the while Carcosa burned bellow them…

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, Peter begins to settle into his new position in Arkhalla's court one week after the fall of Carcosa…


	13. Chapter 13

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **mpowers045** : It'll happen next chapter.

 **Spawn Hades** : It's more of Bel overestimating his Queen's power and overestimating the Undying's abilities in regards to 'mere humans'.

 **rmarcano123** : Well it was either Scorpion or Rhino and between the two, Gargan seemed the better, more dangerous option for that kind of fight. Because Spider-man is my favorite Marvel character. He's able to communicate with spiders because of a process that all members of the Order of Aranece go through to gain their spider powers which will start to be explored over the next few chapters as I begin to delve a bit into the Order's history and Peter's own memories of his time with them. Aside from being able to communicate with spiders, that's the only other power he has from his standard ones. I didn't take away his spider-sense, Peter still has it. They haven't fallen in love yet, their just very fond of one another. I chose Peter because I didn't know any other name that was the ancient world equivalent when I started this.

 **warfolomei** : No Peter took up Arkhalla on her offer partly in a way to keep an eye on her. With how seemingly indifferent Bel was about Arkhalla's safety, and soon finding out that most of her guards were killed by the Scorpion and her close demise at the hands of the Carcosian General, Peter figured that him sticking around would be in her best interest.

 **KasugaRomio** : I still have plans for a few other Rogues to show up, so I'm not too worried by introducing another one like Scorpion. No, he accepted Arkhalla's proposal mainly to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't end up dead. By the time he got to her and saved her, he already forgot about Scorpion's cryptic message which as everyone can tell will come back to bite him in the ass in a way only Parker Luck can manage.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

Peter had to admit, it was nice being part of a 'victory parade' as he's taking to calling such events with the return of Ur's Queen and her army after their victory over Carcosa. Hundreds upon hundreds of people, both immortal and mortal cheered, their screams echoing through the night as Arkhalla rode ahead of her army on a new chariot, adorned in a heavier golden armor that Peter idly wondered why she didn't wear that instead of the lighter, thinner set she had on throughout the campaign.

' _The again, maybe that's why'_ Peter thought with a snort _'Though it seems like that armor looks just as light on her as the other, just offers more protection…'_

Beside Arkhalla rode her war council composed of Kuthan who rode on her left, and behind him Sin with Narama behind him, watching the crowd with a blank, bored expression. To Arkhalla's right was Peter, and behind him a rather sour looking Bel with the recently promoted Nobu behind him looking half asleep.

Several meters behind was the rest of Arkhalla's army, the Undying front and center with the Conscripts, slaves and newly acquired Carcosian slaves, or what was left of the once proud people, at the very rear.

Peter had glanced around the large crowds that had come to greet their conquering Queen with a bemused expression before he had his horse walk near Arkhalla's chariot and he leaned in towards the immortal Monarch.

"Be honest, how many of these people are here because they were held at the edge of a sword?" Peter almost yelled over the various people's cheers, the marching of the army behind them and the multitude of instruments playing in the background.

Arkhalla glanced at Peter with a smirk before she responded "Who says their here by force? While I may be a hard in my rule, I do tend to share the spoils of war to my people… mostly"

Peter shook his head in amusement as Arkhalla's chariot pulled ahead and sped up towards the palace where undoubtedly there would be a grand feast to celebrate her achievement. Peter would have tired to catch up to her before he suddenly felt the odd tingling at the base of his skull, causing him to tense up and slowly begin scanning the crowds for signs of what set off his pre-cognition sense.

Peter even glanced back at Bel to see if perhaps the unhappy General has succumbed to his distaste for Peter and is looking to attack him.

' _Wouldn't be too surprised, Bel had to be held back by Kuthan when he heard Arkhalla's decision to name me her official consort'_ Peter thought as he returned his attention to the road ahead of him but his guard high _'And by proxy, his new lord'_

Meanwhile, towards the rear of the army in one of the various wagons housing the still living Carcosians, Shamath sat in a small corner, away from the rest of the men and very few women huddled inside. He was covered in numerous faded bruises and healed cuts, a result of his 'questioning' at the hands of the Carcosian General. Shamath would have very likely died in Carcosa's dungeons had the siege outside not drawn away his captors and several of Peter's black widows undid his restrains and helped free him.

' _Freed… back into her service'_ Shamath thought with a sigh as he glanced at a Carcosian man holding a much elderly man, sweat pouring down his face as his breath began to quicken and his skin grew pale, it was clear he was ill and likely not long for the world.

"They… killed… the children" the man said with tears running down his face as he looked up at he younger man holding him with a saddened expression "I saw one… of them…"

The elderly man coughed and wheezed, bits of blood falling from his mouth "…Piss… on their corpses…"

The elderly man began to weep even louder until he younger individual wiped some of the sweat off the man's brow "Shhh, be grateful it wasn't your blood in that piss. We live this day…"

The elderly man's breathing became more labored as his eyes slowly closed and his body loosened. After a few moments, his breathing stopped altogether, and the younger man sighed sadly, tears building in his eyes as he very gently rested the elderly man's body on the floor of the wagon as it pulled them to the slave quarters "We hope… for the next"

Shamath looked away as several of the other Carcosain prisoners placed a small blanket over the deceased man. It felt wrong for him to be here, with them. Not because they were Carcosian and he wasn't, but here because he belonged to the Queen, her personal slave where's the rest here would be lucky to end up just as slaves…

"If you want to fit in, you should try joining" a voice spoke up from next to Shamath, causing him to turn to see it was the young man that stayed with elderly man in his final moments.

Shamath looked at him for a moment before he nodded towards his countrymen "They don't know what to make of me"

The man nodded at this "Well yes, you are the Queen's body slave. That makes them both pity and distrust you"

The man then smirked a little as he crouched down next to Shamath and nodded towards his wounds, the ones around his wrists in particular "I see you tried to escape I see"

"I uh…" Shamath tried to think of an appropriate reply to the man's statement. He couldn't well and tell him that several unnatural black widows under the orders of the man that was more or less the architect behind the devastation of Carcosa had freed him.

' _I'd sound mad'_ Shamath thought as he decided to keep quiet.

The Carcosian man chuckled at this as he placed a comforting hand on Shamath's shoulder "We're all in this together friend" Were it in our power, there is not one of us here who would suffer that the She-Demon lived"

Shamath nodded at this as the Carcosian stood up and offered his hand "Come, I'll introduce you to the others…"

Shamath looked at the offered hand before he smiled softly and took it, unaware that in the corner of the wagon, a small Black Widow laid and watched.

…

Soon, the days turned to weeks and Peter found himself falling into Arkhalla's court with little difficulty. Bel, to no one's surprise was very much against Peter's presence and station but was mindful enough to keep such words low or absent entirely in the Undying Queen's presence. The rest of Arkhalla's court didn't seem to bothered by it, or if they were they kept such opinions to themselves or risk the Undying Queen's wrath.

' _Man, it must burn them on the inside to see a mere human hold a higher place then them'_ Peter thought with a silent chuckle as he made his way to Arkhalla's chambers in the late evening, early morning hours.

Peter for the most part was curious as to what the immortal monarch wished to speak about. After their return to Ur almost a month ago, and the subsequent announcement by Arkhalla of Peter's status in her kingdom, the two rarely met one another outside official meetings on the current state of Ur's territories and the plans to invade Dilmun in the spring. And when they do meet, it was usually for sex, not that Peter minded.

' _Probably just wants to speak to me about mine and Bel's growing rivalry. Though to be honest it's more on his side then mine. Seriously, what is that man's problem?'_ Peter thought as he silently made his way down the torch lit halls of the palace before he eventually came upon Arkhalla's residence.

Peter slowly pushed open one of the doors and slipped inside to see the Undying Queen herself, lounging on her bed, dressed in a semi see through tan gown staring at her crown with a unreadable expression. The immortal woman's eyes suddenly snapped to Peter's form as he slowly approached the bed and nodded towards the now smiling woman.

"My Queen…"

Arkhalla's smile broadened as she sat up and moved towards the edge of the bed before standing up and approached Peter with a purr in her voice "Peter…"

Peter watched as the woman slowly circled him with an amused grin etched on her face, her eyes traveling up and down his semi armored form "Tell me, how goes your improvements to my army?"

"Fine, the Conscripts are still struggling with the more advance maneuvers, but your Nightwalker legions are performing flawlessly" Peter said with a simple shrug "They should be ready to move against Dilmun in the Spring, just as you hoped"

"Good" Arkhalla said with a satisfied nod as she ran her hand over Peter's shoulders as she circled him "And how have you taken to being part of my court? I hope the others have been treating you well"

Peter chuckled at this "Well Bel is as charming as ever, Rab seems to hate me and Kuthan won't leave me alone about the making spiders my spies"

Arkhalla frowned at this "I'll… speak with them about their behaviors"

"No need, I can take care of myself" Peter said as he watched Arkhalla come to a stop in front of him "And worse comes to worse… I don't think your kingdom will suffer that huge of a lost with their… demise"

Arkhalla grinned at this as she laid back down on her bed and gestured for Peter to lie beside her. Peter glanced at the soft sheets for a moment before he slowly sat down next to the smirking Queen before she laid back on one of her pillows and let out a sigh of content.

"Tell me Peter, when you were still with the Order, what was it like?" Arkhalla asked as she turned towards Peter.

Peter couldn't help the laugh from escaping as he looked down at the immortal beauty "What brought this on?"

"Just curious is all" Arkhalla said with a small shrug "And I may be interested to see if my lifestyle is either an improvement… or a step down"

"Believe me, this is definitely a step up compared to my days with the Order" Peter said with a grin before it faltered a little as he turned away from Arkhalla and rested his elbows on his armored knees "I wasn't very high ranked in the Order, the finer quarters were normally reserved for the more revered members or higher-ranking officials, like the Council, commanders, and the like"

"Hmm, I always thought the Warriors of Aranece lived in grandeur" Arkhalla said with amusement "Servants waiting on their every beck and call and a legion of women to warm their beds at night"

"Just stories I'm afraid" Peter said with a shake of his head "And any women that did share one of our beds were usually the women warriors we had within our ranks"

"Ah…" Arkhalla said with a nod before she smirked at Peter "And did any of these women lay at your side at night?"

"No…" Peter said, his tone while even carried a trace of bitterness in it "They preferred my brother more than me"

At this, Arkhalla's eyes widened slightly "Brother?"

Peter turned towards her slightly and nodded "Yeah, women always preferred him over me. He was taller, stronger, faster and… he was just better than me"

Arkhalla frowned at the sadness in his tone, the way Peter's eyes would dim ever so slightly as he laid back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. After a few moments, he smiled sadly "But, he never let that get between us. He always went out of his way to 'make me a man' and any time a woman he tired to pick out for me showed more interest in him then me, he'd send them away and try his luck with the next one"

Arkhalla smiled at this as she propped herself up with her arm and rested her chin in her hand "It sounds like he cared for you very much"

"Yeah… sometimes too much for his own good" Peter said with a sigh.

"What do you mean?" Arkhalla asked with a frown.

Peter was silent as he stared up at the ceiling of Arkhalla's chambers, his mind slowly digging up memories of his upbringing within the Order. After several minutes of silence, Petr ran a hand over his face as he began to speak.

"When I was younger, I always got into trouble with our instructors. Either because I got a question wrong, I didn't perform a certain stance properly or just messed up at something" Peter said as he rested his hands behind his head "As a result, I was beaten a lot. My brother, he didn't like this, not one bit. So every time I was reprimanded, he'd always try to make sure that the punishment was dealt more on to him than me. Even on the battlefield he'd always try to present himself as the greater threat in hopes that our enemies would focus on him more"

"He sounds like a rather brave man" Arkhalla commented, causing Peter to shake his head.

"No, he was a damn idiot" Peter muttered in a bitter tone that surprised the Undying Queen "Always trying to play protector… even if it meant his life"

Arkhalla watched as Peter's eye began to water before he blinked and the sadness that lurked there was replaced by rage. She watched as his body tense and his hands briefly contorted into fists so tight she could hear the bones within grinding against one another. And just as quickly as his rage appeared, to vanished, leaving him looking more tired than before. Peter didn't look at Arkhalla as he sat up and rubbed his temples to sooth the growing headache he now had.

Arkhalla watched him for a few moments before she sat up and placed a hand on his shoulder "He perished at Manda-Han, didn't he?"

"Yes…" Peter said with a sigh.

"And I take it, his death came when he saw you yourself about to perish and he intervened" Arkhalla said carefully, sensing she was approaching dangerous ground.

Peter's response was a short, but dark laugh as he stood up and took several steps away from the bed and ran a hand through his hair while the other rested on his waist "We, our company was surrounded by the Goblin King's forces. Early in the battle they se fire to the forest we were stationed in, hoping to drive us into a corner when they can butcher us… it worked"

Arkhalla watched silently as Peter paced back and forth before her slowly, his eyes clouded by memoires of what seemed like a lifetime ago…

"Our captain gave the order to try and fall back to the city itself, but to do that we needed to break through the Goblin army's right flank" Peter said with a grim smile "Between possibly burning to death or being cut down by the Goblin King's forces, a sword to the chest seemed like the lesser of two evils…"

…

" _GET YOUR HEAD DOWN!"_

 _Peter suddenly found himself shoved to the ground with the large bulk of his brother Kaine over his as a volley of arrows flew over the two warriors' heads and imbedded themselves in several other members of the Aranece Order and a multitude of the Goblin King's men._

 _There was little cover in the small meadow they were in, and a large roaring inferno was slowly advancing from their right flank, funneling them towards the massive horde of the Goblin King with both it's dark flames, intense heat and suffocating smoke._

 _Kaine looked towards where the volley of arrows came from and saw several rows of archers preparing another onslaught. The man growled as he climbed off his slightly dazed brother and grabbed a nearby dead horse and lifted it over his head and threw it towards the Goblin's archers with a yell. The green and purple leather armored men saw the approaching carcass and scattered as it slammed into their ranks, crushing several men and forcing the others to retreat as several of the Oder's archers opened fire on them._

" _Did you just throw a horse?" Peter said as he picked himself off the ground and glanced at his brother with an incredulous expression on his face._

 _Kaine looked down at his sibling and shrugged "What? It worked didn't it?"_

 _Before Peter could comment he began to cough, almost doubling over as he tried to catch his breath in the smoke filled air. Kaine patted his brother on the back as he scanned the area for signs of the Goblin King's forces._

 _Aside from a few men lying on the ground, moaning in agony and the dozen or so Warriors of Aranece that could still walk, they were alone._

" _Kaine…" Peter rasped out as he removed his helmet in attempt to help him breath easier._

" _Yes?" Kaine said as he glanced back at his smaller brother with worry._

" _D-Do… do you think we'll make it?" Peter asked before he descended into another coughing fit, this time spitting out black phlegm, a nasty side effect from inhaling too much smoke from the raging fire only half a mile away._

 _Kaine was about to respond before he felt a powerful flare at the base of his skull, causing his eyes to narrow and the grip on his sword to tightened as he turned to see over a hundred of the Goblin King's men approaching them with a man in silver armor with an orange cloak riding on top of an equally armored horse. In his hand was a flaming sword while he held on to the reins of his horse with the other._

 _The man noticed Kaine, Peter and what was left of their company before he pointed at them with his fiery blade and spoke with a maniacal laughter in his voice._

" _There we are boys, a couple of lost spiders!" He shouted as his horse reared up from a flaming tree collapsing near it. The orange cloaked rider adjusted his seat on the saddle before he gave the order to charge towards the trapped warriors "Kill them all, hehehe-hahahahaha!"_

 _Kaine growled at the approaching Goblin King forces before he glanced back at Peter as the smaller man tried to control his coughing as he slipped his helmet back on._

" _Kaine, after this, I never want to be near a fire again!"_

 _Kaine, couldn't help but agree with the man as he cut down the first Goblin soldier that approached him and his brother…_

…

Peter had stopped moving as he glanced out the large window located on the far wall of Arkhalla's room that gave a breath-taking view of the marshlands that boarded the city to the east and beyond that a lush jungle.

But to Peter, all he saw was an ash filled battlefield with hundreds upon hundreds of men and women dying over the thunderous sounds of metal against metal, man against man…

"Peter?"

The former warrior of Aranece jumped at the sound of his name uttered by Arkhalla as she came to stand next to him. Peter glanced at the woman before he adverted his gaze "Sorry, just… just forgot where I was is all"

Arkhalla nodded at this "Even all the way out here, I've hear of the nightmare that Manda-Han became for those that fought it"

"Stories don't do it justice I'm afraid" Peter said with a heavy sigh as he glanced back up at the landscape beyond the walls of Ur "Still, the battle did impart a few things to me that have served me well over the years"

"Such as?" Arkhalla said with a raised brow.

"Well for one, I learned that fire is one way to break a people's army and morale" Peter chuckled grimly as his mind raced back to the recent siege of Carcosa.

"An adequate method" Arkhalla agreed as she followed Peter's gaze "Though, I fear such a method will be ill equipped for my campaign against Dilmun"

Peter nodded in agreement "It would be kinda hard to burn a city to the ground when they live right next to the sea and have several canals running through it"

"Though, that does give me ideas of how to use that in our favor" Arkhalla said as she turned away from the balcony and slowly made her way back to her bed.

"Care to share those my Queen?" Peter asked as he glanced back at the smirking Queen.

"You will have to just wait and see" Arkhalla purred with amusement, causing Peter to grin.

"I look forward to it"

"I'm sure" Arkhalla said before Shamath suddenly appeared in the doorway with a young girl that looked to be no older than eighteen summers.

The young slave boy bowed to Arkhalla as he stepped aside to better display the young woman with him. He adverted his gaze from the bemused Queen as he spoke "Your repast, Undying Queen… bathed, scented and groomed as ordered"

"Hmm…" Arkhalla hummed as she rose from her bed and approached the dup with a look of hunger on her face "As ordered, yes…"

She eyed the woman that was brought to her and gave an appreciative nod towards her favored slave "A fine choice Shamath. You're getting better"

Peter watched as the young woman fidgeted under Arkhalla's gaze while Shamath refused to make eye contact with his mistress or the woman he was holding by the shoulder so she coudlnt get away from the slowly advancing monarch. After a few seconds, Peter cleared his throat as he angled himself towards the door.

"If you have need of me my Queen, I'll be overseeing-"

"Stay" Arkhalla said with a side glance towards Peter as she cupped the woman's chin and turned her head side to side as Shamath let go of the woman and went to retrieve a gold, ruby encrusted goblet and knife on a silver tray lying on a small table near the center of the room.

"My Queen?" Peter said with slight surprise as Shamath offered the try towards Arkhalla as she released the woman from her grasp.

"Your goblet" Shamath said in a low voice before Arkhalla waved him off as she circled the woman.

"No, not tonight" she said as she came to a stop in front of the woman and ran her hand through the you young woman's wheat colored hair. She glanced over at Shamath and smirked at the expression on his face, or rather the lack of. She licked her lips at this as she inhaled the young woman before her's scent.

"There was a time I could see naked revulsion on your face Shamath" Arkhalla said with a grin as she stared into the terrified eyes of the slave girl before her. She then turned her icy blue eyes towards Shamath "Have you learned to like watching me feed?"

"What you do, disgusts me" Shamath said as he adverted his gaze from the smirking woman.

Peter couldn't help but laugh at this, causing Arkhalla to turn her gaze to Peter with an expectant look upon her face.

"Do you find something funny?" she asked as she ran her fingers through the trembling girl's hair.

Peter struggled to get his laughter under control as he spoke "No, it's just… your boy slave, he's bold"

"Hmm, yes, I suppose he is" Arkhalla agreed before she looked back at the young woman and gave her a soft, gentle smile that completely surprised the young slave girl.

Arkhalla simply stared at the young slave before her eyes turned dark and her fangs elongated, and she quickly bit into the woman's throat, spilling blood and causing the her to emit a chocked, pained gasp as the Undying Queen secured her hold on the slave. Shamath looked away with clear horror in his eyes while Peter merely watched as the young slave woman briefly tried to break away from Arkhalla's grip before her body went limp as the Undying Queen drank more and more blood. Soon a small river fell from her feeding and pooled at her and the slave's feet as Arkhalla's fangs dug deeper and deeper into her flesh.

After several moments, Arkhalla ripped her mouth away from the near dead woman's neck, causing blood to pour from the large wound and on to her dress. Arkhalla licked her lips in sensual hunger as she allowed the slave to collapse to the ground, chocking for air as blood pooled around her trembling body. She then turned towards Shamath and gestured for him to bring her the goblet and dagger.

Peter watched with interest as the slave boy obeyed and reluctantly approached his mistress and offered the tray out to her. Arkhalla didn't even bother to wait for Shamath's arms to be fully extended when she snatched both items off the tray and kneeled down next to the woman and grabbed a fistful of her hair and held her up and placed the goblet under her bleeding neck.

"What are you-" Peter began before he was interrupted by Arkhala taking the knife and slitting the woman's throat, just above where she fed and allowed a substantial amount of the now dead slave girl's life essence to pour into the jeweled cup.

Several moments passed as Arkhalla allowed the goblet to almost overflow with blood before she stood up and held it out towards Peter. The Aranece warrior quirked an amused brow at the Undying Queen as she gestured for him to take it.

"Dare I ask why?" Peter said as he slowly approached the goblet and with two hands gently took it from Arkhalla and looked into it's dark red contents to see his reflection.

"Think of it as my way of thanking you for all you've done" Arkhalla said with a small grin on her face "Normally I'd offer you something more… but I do believe the magics that bestowed your abilities would prevent such a gift"

"And you'd be right" Peter said with a nod as he examined the blood filled goblet "Still, thanks all the same"

Peter then slowly raised the goblet to his mouth and began to drink from the goblet, his eyes turning an interesting red color as he did so. Arkhalla turned to Shamath and gestured for him to leave with her head. She had to hold back a laugh as he nearly sprinted from the room without looking back.

' _Perhaps I should find him a woman as a reward for his services… one of the Carcosain stock should do him nicely'_ Arkhalla thought as she turned to see that Peter had finished the goblet, his lips and chin smeared with blood.

She licked her lips at the man as she began to slowly back away towards the bed. Peter watched as she had her hands travel up her body in the most sensual way possible before she undid the straps that held her gown up and allowed the fabric to fall to the floor, exposing her breasts to Peter. She had to hold back a laugh at the way his eyes lit up with lust as she slowly removed the loincloth she wore before she laid back on her bed, her legs parted slightly to show her arousal as she smiled at Peter while running a hand up her body and cupping her breast.

"Come, it is time for you to fulfill your duties as my consort…"

Peter nodded dumbly as he slowly approached the bed, dropping the goblet in the process and allowing the cup to clatter against the stone floor as he reached the bed and slowly climbed on to it until he was over Arkhalla.

The Undying Queen shivered in delight as Peter's lips found there way to her throat and began to kiss at the flesh, leaving small blood-stained lip marks before he let loose a dark animalistic growl that caused her lower lips to dampen even further. Arkhalla moaned at this before she suddenly grabbed Peter and rolled to the side until she was straddling him with a smirk. Peter could only look at her in awe as she ran her hands over his chest before she gripped the shirt and with little effort on her part, torn the fabric off, exposing the warm muscular flesh underneath.

Arkhalla's mouth watered at the sight before she leaned down and caught Peter's lips with her own…

…

Bel was for the lack of a better word, miserable.

His standing with Arkhalla was all but gone, her favor now being placed to a meager human whose very presence was an insult as far as the Undead general was concerned.

"That filthy mongrel!" Bel hissed as he walked an abandoned street along the far edges of the city.

He needed time to himself, time to ponder what his next move would and should be in light of Arkhalla appointing Peter as her consort and now lord of her army, making him Bel's superior for all intents and purposes. To have a human be his equal was one thing, but to have one as his superior, to pledge his loyalty and fidelity to, that was too much.

Bel was not the only one who thought the same, many others in Arkhalla's court thought the same and had all the more reason to usurp her rule of Ur.

"Easier said then done" Bel muttered bitterly as he glanced back towards the Queen's palace with narrowed eyes.

Trying to overthrow Arkhalla was difficult enough given the legions of loyal soldiers at her command, Vampires that would fight and die to protect Arkhalla and should she somehow fall, to avenge her with no regard to their own survival. Then there was the Queen herself, whose power trumped Bel's and that of the rest of his co-conspirators combined!

And now with Peter under her command, his loyalty to her assured, she was next to unbeatable. It would take a miracle from the Gods above and below to beat her with such forces at her command.

"Damn that bastard, and damn her for choosing him over me after all that I have sacrificed and endured in her name!" Bel growled before he slammed his fist into a wall, cracking the stone and splitting open his knuckles and causing them to bleed.

Bel hissed in anger as he licked the blood dripping from his hand before he picked up someone approaching him from behind. Their footsteps were far to light to be a human's and even lighter than that of the Undying. Bel turned to see who would dare to try and sneak up behind him and was greeted to the sight of a lone man slowly approaching him. Bel's eyes narrowed as he took in the man's appearance.

He was clad in finely tailored clothes that seemed suited for a king, his shoulder length black hair framed a ghostly pale face that housed a pair of eyes that possessed a dark hunger in them that unsettled even Bel. The way the man walked was also unsettling to the Immortal captain. His movements were fluid, far more so then even the Undying and his scent reeked of death, like a walking battlefield.

"Who are you!" Bel demanded as his hand went towards the hilt of his sword.

The strange man came to a stop and smiled darkly at Bel as his eyes seemed to glow in the darkness "Me? Why do you ask?"

"I asked you a question mongrel!" Bel snapped in anger as he took a step forward.

Before Bel could blink, the man's face was inches from his own. Bel flinched in response and tried to take a step back but the man seized Bel by the collar of his armor and kept him close as he spoke in a low whisper.

"I'm told that a warrior from Aranece has taken residence here" the man's voice sent a shiver up Bel's spine, it was so cold, so detached… so hungry.

"Y-You've heard true" Bel said as he tried to tear the man's hand off him but found his grip to be stronger than iron.

The man grinned darkly at this before he licked his lips and released Bel and watched him stumble back "Is that so?"

"Yes" Bel growled before he quickly drew his sword and raised the tip to the man's throat with a snarl "Now tell me who are you or you'll wish for death when I'm done with you"

The strange pale figure simply stared at Bel with a unreadable expression before he did something unexpected… he impaled himself on Bel's blade and slowly dragged himself towards the shocked vampiric general until his chest was flush with the blade's hilt and smiled as he patted Bel's wrist.

"You may call me Morlun… and I believe we can be of use for one another"

Bel could say noting as he watched Morlun bein to chuckle before it broke out into a dark, almost demonic laugh that shook him to his core and seemed to cause the shadows around them to darken even further...

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, As Peter and Arkhalla grow closer, the Undying Queen's court meets in secret…


	14. Chapter 14

Answers to reviewer's questions or statements:

 **Mcveighreece** : Peter's body is reacting to the demonic magic that Arkhalla put in the girl she killed when she bit her. The red eye color is like when his stingers would activate when around a certain amount of supernatural energy. It possibly could make him stronger, but the process that Peter underwent to gain his powers have more or less prevented anything of the sort from ever happening with him unless a powerful mystic was behind it.

 **rmarcano321** : A fight with Rhino for Peter would be mainly him jumping out of the way, keeping his distance and the sort where's Scorpion would force Peter to fight in close quarters, make the fight more brutal. Rhino sort of already appeared in the form of the actual rhino that Peter fought a few chapters ago. Because having her seek a marriage with him right off the bat would seem rushed, I'd rather they be slowly eased into a actual relationship that isn't based solely on sex. Morlun in the comics is part of a group of interdimensional vampiric energy creatures that travel around the Marvel multiverse, killing different versions of Spider-man, Spider-woman, Scarlet Spider and basically anyone that's connected to the web of life. His purpose in this story is to be the main bad guy instead of the usual Green Goblin, Dock Ock or even Venom. Of the four of them he's the only one that was able to actually kill Peter off at one point.

 **Spawn Hades** : No the Spider-women have all been killed off already, either at Manda-Han or by Morlun and his family.

 **KasugaRomio** : Peter is still technically human, at least compared to a Vampire in that he doesn't have immortality. I'm going to sort of end this with the canonical ending in the comic.

 **Henchman213** : No, Kaine simply never bothered with the women that he tried to set Peter up with but failed. Any women he did sleep with were ones he sought out on his own, Peter was more than content with being left alone by his well meaning brother.

 **Dr Sugarcakes** : That's how I get people, I lure them in with the promise of lemons and romance and then boom, make you come to actually care for the characters with tragedy and other things. No, Morlun just recognize that trying to kill Peter on top of dealing with Arkhalla and her army will make things more difficult. Granted he could tear through any of them, but he'd rather not have to actually work hard for his prize.

 **Krolikson** : No I'm keeping her back story the same, I see nothing wrong with it.

 **Hardlight** : The Order had something more special about them, something the Inheritors in this story crave.

 **Crieger** : Here you can say that Morlun and his family are a sort of sub species of Vampires or other supernatural entities that are simply hunting Peter and the other spiders for a combination of sport and to try and gain the power that the Order used to possess before it was destroyed. They'd just move on to something else after wiping out the remaining spiders. Dilmun is an actual place in ancient Mesopotamia and in the comic.

 **Esquire-man** : She would be looking for others, but she isn't gonna have much time to ponder looking for others now that Morlun and his brother have arrived and with her inner circle plotting. And even then, there aren't many left to recruit anyhow.

 **Warning: Lemons towards the end!**

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or AHR characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

There are times where Arkhalla almost loathed being a ruler of a slowly growing empire of both the Undead and the living.

Times where she wished she never took command of her late father's throne and army and expanded her kingdom and her rule over hundreds of thousnads if not millions of people, both mortal and immortal alike. Countless hours and even weeks would be spent listening to her court's decisions and 'advice' on how to better maintain her control and enrich her people and strengthen her army. Sometimes Arkhalla wondered if being a immortal monarch with a equally immortal court was a Hell in of itself.

 _'It sure feels like it'_ Arkhalla thought tiredly as she listened to her advisor Sin explain his plan to help Arkhalla and Ur maintain everlasting control over the recently conquered city or Carcosa.

"...By having a carde of the Undying replace the Royal House, your rule over Carcosa will be unshakeable" Sin stated as Erun, the head of the Magi in both Ur and throughout it's territories.

Arkhalla hummed at this, her mind occupied from her recent meetings and ruts with Peter the past few days. She couldn't quite explain it, but ever since they returned from Carcosa, something about their relationship changed. It wasn't just lust that fuled it, there was something more to it now. Something beyond just giving into their carnal desire for one another. She was so lost in her thoughts that she just barely noticed Bel enter her hall. Her boredom and her confusion on her and Peter's shifting relationship was quickly replaced with anger as the immortal general approached her throne. Peter's words on how Bel was willing to leave her to fend for herself rushed through her mind as she stared at the very first man she ever turned after her change.

Sin, unaware of his Queen's thoughts, continued on in his presentation while Eurn watched on.

"Those who prove our firm allies will be turned, the rest-" Sin continued before Arkhalla suddenly slammed her fist on her throne's arm rest, cracking the stone as she spoke with a slight snarl.

"Shut up!"

Sin and Erun both flinched while Bel passed them and climbed several steps and gave her a look of concern.

"My Queen, there is-" Bel began before Arkhalla cut him off with a glare.

"I have waited since we came back from Carcosa Bel. Waited for you to step forth and be a man!"

Bel was taken back by this, unable to understand what his monarch meant. Sin and Erun both used this moment to slip away, leaving the two oldest immortals in Ur alone.

Bel gazed up at the Vampiric Queen as he tried to ignore the cold fear crawling up his spine as her eyes gazed down into his with barely restrained fury "What have I-"

"What is your sacred duty?" Arkhalla questioned with narrowed eyes "Your warrior's duty to me?"

Bel blinked at this before he sighed and looked away "To be at your side in battle. To guard and keep you always"

"Then where were you?!" Arkhalla nearly shouted as she rose from her throne slightly "Where were you when Carcosa fell? When that mortal wretch almost took my head off? You weren't there and I was saved by a man that I've barely known more than a few months and yet has shown more loyalty and concern for my well being then you! My trusted General!"

Bel's rage grew at the mentioning of Peter before he took a deep calming breath "I was remiss in my duties. Yes it was in heated battle, against a plague of swords, but that can be no excuse. I acted like a fool"

"The heavens and hells must have broken bread for you to admit such a thing Bel" Arkhalla said with a snort.

Bel's head bowed at this "My Queen, it has been a while since I fell from your favor and I am to blame. When those walls crumbled, I charged our foes with no thought. Perhaps it was to prove myself in your eyes, or to be slain rather than face your scorn again. I don not know" Bel shook his head at this "But in both I failed miserably"

Arkhalla frowned at this, her anger cooling slightly as she leaned back in her throne, curious with where Bel was going with this.

"If you believe me, I promise to be your shadow and shield until death parts me from your side. If you do not, take my sword and slay me down" Bel said with conviction in his voice as he gazed up at Arkhalla.

The throne room fell silent as the two held one another's gaze. Arkhalla's eyes seemed to search through Bel's for any deception before she sighed and rubbed her temple with one of her hands as she laid back in her seat "No. I... do not need your death Bel. What I need... is a distraction from thoughts that have plagued and confused me for some time now"

Bel nodded at this "Perhaps something for your pleasure? I haven't made a choice for you recently, but the Carcosan stock of slaves is-"

"No" Arkhalla said with a shake of her head before a small coy grin grew on her face as an idea came to her mind "That was not the distraction I had in mind"

Bel did his best to keep himself calm and not appear to be over eager at the way his Queen looked at him. It was the same look she gave him the night she invited him to her chambers... the same night the accursed warrior of Aranece arrived at Ur and barred him from his Queen's bed and her good gracious.

"Bel..." Arkhalla said as she leaned back in her throne "Meet me in my chamber... and bring Narama with you"

"O-Of course my Queen" Bel said with a bow before something occurred to him. He looked back up at Arkhalla with some confusion "Buy what of-"

"Peter will not be made aware of what I have in mind" Arkhalla said with a small laugh "And if he is, you need not worry about it. I will handle it"

"Very good" Bel said as he turned on his heel and prepared to leave the throne room and fetch Narama when Lockjaw, the mutt that Peter found in the Carcosan village, barreled through the doorway and into the throne room.

Bel's eyes narrowed at the mutt as it raced towards the throne before it came to a sudden stop and glanced up at Bel. Before the immortal General could say anything to the beast, Lockjaw began to growl before barking at the immortal general. Teeth were barred and Lockjaw's ears lowered to his head as he did his best to make himself appear bigger and more threatening to the Vampire. Bel snarled at the mutt and would have kicked it had the icy look in his Queen's eyes not stayed him.

"Touch him Bel, and I won't hesitate to rip you apart with my bare hands" Arkhalla said with a growl of her own.

"I apologize my Queen... I shall go and fetch Narama as you asked" Bel said with a bow as he began to back away, his eyes on the floor as he did his best to ignore the growls and barks from Lockjaw.

The small mutt continued to glare at Bel as he made it to the doorway and quickly turned on his heel and exited the throne room in a single motion, leaving Arkhalla and Lockjaw as the sole inhabitants. After several seconds, Lockjaw quieted down before he looked up at Arkhalla with a wagging tail and gave her a happy bark.

"Well done my valiant defender" Arkhalla cooed as she stood up from her throne and slowly made her way down the stairs until she reached the bottom and sat down and pat the excited canine on the head before she picked him up and brought him close to her chest.

She casted a quick glance towards the doorway that Bel used before she shook her head in bemusement and looked back down at Lockjaw's wide eyes "Tell me my sweet pup, should I have told Bel that what I have planned with Narama is for Peter, not him?"

Lockjaw barked in response as he began to lick the side of Arkhalla's face, causing the immortal queen to giggle as she rubbed Lockjaw's head.

"Yes, I suppose I should leave him to figure it out" Arkhalla giggled at the dog's curious expression before he barked again as she scratched his head, unaware that she and Lockjaw were being watched from something lurking in the shadows, something that not even their acute senses could pick up.

...

Peter had to hold back a yawn as he watched the several conscripted companies try and fail to form what the Symkarians called a 'Testudo' formation, a highly effective infantry formation that involved the infantry in the front forming a sort of wall of shields while men in the inner rows would raise their shields above their heads and form a sort of shield top with the flanks remaining unshielded.

So far, the Urian conscripts were making some leeway in making and holding the formation but Peter concluded the men would need more training before they could use such a advance maneuver in a actual battle.

 _'The Nightwalkers on the other hand...'_ Peter thought as he turned towards a tent that housed several vampiric officers who were watching the conscripts formation with narrowed, judging eyes.

The vampiric companies had mastered the technique and could make it in record time all in the span of two nights.

"Heh, at this rate they'll surpass Latveria's Legionnaires in no time" Peter said to himself as he watched the conscripts try to move in a testudo formation before the shield wall began to splinter and break apart.

"Them on the other hand..." Peter said with a shake of his head before he barked out for the men to get back into formation.

Granted the conscripts did well during the Carcosan campaign, but far too many were killed for both Peter and Arkhalla's liking. After a few seconds, the conscripts had reformed their formation and began to move again. Peter watched them before he glanced at one of the Conscript officers, though officer was a strong word for the human that the Vampires trusted enough to lead a company of humans in their absence.

"Have them move in this formation for another half hour" Peter said as he turned to leave.

"Yes my lord..." the human said with a timid nod.

Peter let out a sigh as he entered the tent to see Nobu standing before a desk with numerous scrolls and documents on them. Most were detailed reports from Kuthan's spies in Dilmun, mainly trade routes, troop deployments, locations of towns, villages and major cities, including Dilmun itself. Dilmun was almost twice the size of Carcosa, both in territory and in population with a army a good two thirds larger. Add in it's impressive naval power and Arkhalla's army was going to be met with a rather difficult challenge.

 _'And most of the most viable routes to Dilmun's capital are through a series of marshlands that act as a sort of natural barrier. That'll slow us down a lot_ ' Peter thought with a frown as he approached the table and glanced down at the maps ' _The horses, oxen and other beasts we have will have trouble pulling the carts and other supplies through there'_

"It will not be an easy campaign" Nobu said as he wrote down a few notes "Our Calvary will be greatly hampered by the marshes and swamps"

"Yeah, so I've noticed" Peter said with a heavy sigh "Add in the fact we're gonna be marching through said marshlands and swamps, in the spring, we're gonna have to worry about disease"

One of the other vampiric officers scoffed at this "You think sickness will hamper our men?"

Peter glanced at the man with a raised brow "You, doubtful... which is a pity... it's the humans I'm worried about"

Nobu nodded at this "Mosquitos there carry many diseases. Most deadly and contagious"

"Fantastic..." Peter said with a sigh as he rubbed his forehead _'I could try to use my Widows to subjugate the local spiders in the marshes, but I'd have to start now so that way when we do begin our march, they will have ample time to take control and begin wiping out the mosquitos and any other disease ridden insects and vermin living there'_

Peter's Widows have never attempted such a thing of that scale before. A city is one thing, but hundreds of square miles of swamp and marsh was another thing entirely. Just as Peter began to run through possible ways to pull off such a thing, one of the slaves from Carcosa entered the tent, his head bowed low as he did his best to not fidget under the eyes of the Vampiric officers.

"L-Lord P-P-Peter?" the man said nervously, his body shaking to the point that it was almost audible to Peter and Nobu.

"Yes?" Peter said with a frown.

"T-The Undying Q-Queen s-summons you" the man said.

Peter hummed at this "Did she say why?"

The slave shook his head "I w-was i-instructed to retrieve m-my l-lord"

Peter nodded at this before he turned to Nobu "Give me the best possible routes to Dilmun, I don't care if they'll be fast or not. At this point, I'm more focused with getting as many of our human troops through these marshes alive for the sieges and battles"

Nobu nodded "I will have a list by morning"

Peter gave the older being a nod before he made his way to the tent entrance, gesturing for the slave to lead on "Let's see what m'lady wishes to speak with me about today..."

The slave nodded as he escorted Peter back to the palace, doing his best to avoid bumping into any conscripts.

As Peter followed the slave, his mind drifted towards the Undying Queen. As of late, something had... formed, between the two. He wasn't quite sure what it was, it wasn't like the closeness he had with his late brother and it wasn't something like he would feel for the occasional woman he did happen to get to a bed. If anything, it was somewhere in the middle, but going in it's own separate direction from either of the two.

 _'Wish Kaine was here... he'd know what was going on'_ Peter thought with a saddened sigh.

He hasn't been thinking of his brother often lately as he used to before coming to Ur. Part of Peter wanted to think that he was finally coming to terms with his lost, starting to move on. But the spider enhanced man believed it was more of his mind being distracted by a multitude of things, leaving him little time to think of his long dead sibling.

 _'Don't know if that makes me a bastard or not'_ Peter thought as he and the slave passed a large statue of Arkhall's late father.

Peter stopped for a second and looked at the imposing statue and wondered if Arkhalla still thought of the man. Obviously she did considering she's planning to rename Carcosa in his honor, but Peter wondered if she really remembered the man, not as her predecessor, but as her father.

 _'I can barely remember my own father...'_ Peter thought a little sadly before he shook his head of such thoughts and continued to follow after the slave.

He barely took two steps before he felt an unnatural chill crawl up his spine and a faint buzzing at the base of his skull. Peter glanced around with narrowed eyes to see if he could locate the source of danger that his body was reacting to. Aside from numerous guards and slaves milling about, Peter didn't see anyone that looked like they were about to attack him. Just as Peter was about to take another step, the buzzing at the base of his skull turned into a painful headache that nearly caused him to double over in pain.

"The hell...?" Peter hissed out as he held a hand to his head and looked around frantically for whatever was causing him to feel this before it vanished just as quickly.

Whatever it was, Peter had a sinking suspicion that when he finally met whoever it was, they won't want to talk things out.

Peter sighed at this ' _Just my luck...'_

...

"You fought well" Arkhalla said as she stood before Narama, both women dressed in see through nightgowns that were just barely holding on to their bodies with Bel, his armor removed and being handed to Shamath who quickly went and set it beside Arkhalla and Naramam's robes.

The Undying Queen ran a hand down Narama's face as she licked her lips "Seeing you in the battlefield stirred my heart, as surely as it must have struck fear in our foes. It was... arousing"

Narama grinned at her Queen "It was your presence there my Queen, that was an inspiration to us all"

Arkhalla smirked at this before she pulled the woman flush against her body, their robes slipping and allowing their breasts to press against one another's. Both immortal beauties moaned while Bel watched with a watering mouth, his cock hardening at the sight before him. Shamath did his best to ignore the two women, keeping his gaze on the floor.

"Mm" Arkhalla moaned as Narama squeezed her ass while her other hand kneaded her tit, her nail lightly trailing across her nipple "And what about my presence here? Tonight? Does it... inspire you?"

Narama gasped as her queen's hand wandered down to her pussy and began to stroke her clit, causing her legs to wobble briefly "Mmm... yes..."

Bel took a step forward, intent of finally embracing his queen only to stop as Arkhalla turned towards him with amusement while Narama began to leave a trail of kisses down her throat.

"Bel? You have appointed the night watch haven't you?" she asked.

"Yes my Queen" Bel nodded eagerly.

Arkhalla nodded at this, seemingly satisfied before she waved her hand towards him in a shooing motion "Then that will be all. You may leave now"

Bel's eyes widened at this and even Narama and Shamath seemed taken back as well.

"B-But... but my Queen" Bel said as he took a step forward, hoping he misheard or misinterpreted what Arkhalla said before a distinct 'SNIKT' echoed through the air, causing the three vampires and lone human to turn and see Peter leaning against the doorway, his arm blade out and his head quirked to the side a little.

His posture looked relax to the average human eye, but to a Vampire's like Arkhalla, Bel and Narama, his body was tense and ready to move at a moment's notice.

"Bel... I believe m'lady gave you a order" Peter said with a faint smile under his helmet.

Bel gritted his teeth at Peter before he took a deep breath and glanced at Arkhalla "I shall take my leave..."

"Please do, your mood is starting to kill mine and Narama's" Arkhalla said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Bel almost bristled at the comment before he stalked pass Peter with a very faint growl. Peter waited for the General to leave the room before he retracted his arm blade and pushed himself off the doorway and approached Arkhalla and Narama.

"You wished to see me?" Peter questioned before he nodded towards Narama "Evening..."

"Good evening..." Narama responded with a simple nod.

"Peter, do you know why I asked you here?" Arkhalla said with a coy grin as she maneuvered behind Narama and rested her chin on her shoulder.

"Nope" Peter said with a shake of his head "Though if it was to scare Bel off, I'm confident you could have done such a thing without my help"

"Perhaps, though I believe Bel would be short a limb or two and a few pints of blood" Arkhalla giggled as she began to rub her hands up and down Narama's body, causing the vampiric woman to moan.

Peter watched as the two beauties made out before him, their hands running up and down their bodies. He could feel himself growing hard at the sight of Arkhalla pushing down Narama's shirt and running her hands over the woman's slightly smaller breasts. The deadly scout moaned as her Queen massaged her chest while she cupped the Undying Queen's rear, giving her a light slap that caused Arkahlla to moan into her kiss with the minxy Vampire. After several minutes, Arkhalla and Narama both turned towards Peter with matching grins, their face's flush with desire and their nipples hard and erect, seemingly almost calling Peter's mouth to them.

"Peter, why are you still covered?" Arkhalla said with a giggle as she ran her hands down Narama's body, grabbing the shirt and pulling it past the woman's waist and letting it fall to the floor and pool at her feet.

"Do you wish only to watch?" Narama said with a gasp as Arkhalla leaned down and took one of her nipples in her mouth and begun to suck on it.

"Well..." Peter said as he looked at them remove the last of their clothing before they stood bare before him, their hands and lips running over each other, earning gasps and moans of pleasure in return.

Arkhalla was beginning to think that she and Narama would have to disrobe Peter themselves before she heard the faint clicks of his armor being removed. The Undying Queen smirked as she licked the valley between Narama's breasts as she slowly pushed the woman towards the bed. Once her legs hit the edge, Arkhalla pushed her on to the soft silk sheets and looked down at the beauty with unapologetic lust and desire.

"You are so terribly, terribly beautiful my dear..." Arkhalla purred at the woman before her.

"As are you my Queen" Narama breathed back as she reached up and pulled Arkhalla into another heated kiss, their tongues dancing across each other's.

Peter finally removed the last of his armor and the clothing underneath it and stood bare before Arkhalla and Narama, his manhood growing harder and harder at the sight of the two immortal beauties. Peter placed his hands on Arkhalla's rear and ran his hands over her supple rear before he had them travel down to the hem of her robe and began to push it up to her waist. Peter stared at the Queen's exposed ass and kneeled down and traced a finger just above her exposed pussy and up towards her asshole.

Arkhalla moaned as Peter's digits trailed near her pussy and yelped when she felt his finger lightly penetrate her ass. She looked back at Peter with a coy grin as Narama kissed and licked her throat.

"Hoping to claim all of my body tonight?" Arkhalla asked in a teasing tone as Peter leaned forward and ran his tongue the length of her wet slit.

"I might..." Peter said over Arkhalla's moan as he gave her wet core a kiss before leaning down more towards Narama's and gave her the same treatment.

"Gods below!" Narama gasped as Peter's tongue attacked her slit.

Arkhalla grinned down at one of her most trusted advisors before she cut off the beauty's moaning with her lips. As the two vampiric women made out, Peter explored both their pussies with his tongue, mapping out their wet slits as one hand ran over and gripped Arkhalla's rear while the other traveled up and down Narama's thigh. The two immortal beauties both moaned in their kiss as Peter went back and forth in licking their folds. After a few more licks, Peter pulled back and ran a finger down Arkhalla's pussy before he began to insert the digit into her tight core while he had his other fingers snake their way up Narama's leg and to her own nether lips.

"Please..." Narama whispered as Arkhalla turned the woman's head away and bit down into her neck, drawing blood and causing the Vampiric scout to shudder in pleasure.

"As the lady wishes" Peter muttered as he inserted a finger into Narama's pussy and began to rub the sides of her vaginal walls in a manner similar to what he was doing to Arkhalla.

Arkhalla moaned as she drank from Narama, savoring the sweet taste of her blood before she released the woman's throat and looked down at her with a lustful gaze that was slightly marred by the blood dripping from her lips. Narama looked up at her Queen with unapologetic lust and licked her lips as some of the blood fell from Arkhalla's mouth and on to her cheek and neck.

The Undying Queen giggled as Narama tried to lean up and taste her own blood on the immortal monarch's throat but was stopped by Arkhalla's hand on her chest and the growing pleasure from Peter fingering her pussy. Arkhalla grinned down at her immortal scout before she opened her mouth and allowed the blood to start dripping from her lips. Narama opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out in an effort to capture the blood before suddenly she felt Peter's fingers leave her pussy and found him on his knees right above her head. Arkahalla grinned widely as the blood she drank from Narama dripped on to Peter's cock while his balls sat just above Narama's lips, causing the vampiric beauty to shudder before she took his sack in between her lips and began to suck.

Peter bucked a little at the feeling of Narama pleasuring his balls while Arkhalla leaned forward and planted a bloody kiss on his tip before she leaned back a little so she could begin to slowly take it in her mouth and down her throat. Peter groaned as the immortal woman's tongue glided over his cock's shaft as she took him deeper and deeper into her mouth until her face was flush against his pelvis. She held him there several seconds as she had her tongue work his shaft before she began to slowly pull back and expose his lubed cock to the warm air. Peter stated down at the coy look in Arkhalla's eyes as she kept his tip on her mouth and gave it a hard suck before she began to bob her head back and forth on his cock.

Peter closed his eyes in bliss as Arkhalla deep throated his prick while below him Narama's mouth worked his sack over, kissing and sucking on each testicle before trying to fit both in her mouth to suck on. As the two vampiric beauties worked him over, Peter ran his hands through Arkhalla's hair, massaging her scalp and causing her to moan in response before she released his cock with a trail of saliva hanging between her chin and his tip. She grabbed the shaft and pumped it a few times as she looked up at Peter with a wide grin before she planted a small kiss on his tip and took him in her mouth again, sucking even harder than before. Peter groaned as Narama increased the suction on his balls. Several minutes passed as the two immortal women ravished Peter's cock with attention, their lewd sucking sounds filling the bed chambers. Peter suddenly gripped Arkhalla's head and began to thrust into her mouth, causing the monarch to giggle as she could sense that Peter was on the verge of cumming. Narama seemed to think the same thing and began to suck on Peter's balls even harder while she attacked his sack with her tongue, as if trying to push the cum out and into her queen's mouth.

"You thirsty my Queen?" Peter said as he looked down at Arkhalla as he thrusted into her mouth.

She gave him a eager nod as best she could with his grip on her head and moaned even louder as she looked up at Peter with excitement. Peter grinned at her as he slammed into her throat one final time and shot several streams of cum down the immortal's throat. Arkhalla moaned loudly as she felt Peter's cum splash the back of her throat and drip down her mouth just as Narama released Peter's balls with a 'pop' and licked the red sack.

"There better be enough for me" she teased.

"Oh there will be" Peter said as he slowly pulled his cock from Arkhalla's mouth and laid back while Arkhalla sat up and licked her lips.

"Mmm, very good..." she moaned before she looked down at Narama and climbed off her "Narama, on your hands and knees"

"Of course" she replied with a grin as she did as ordered and presented herself to Peter and began to shake her rear while Arkhalla laid down in front of her immortal scout and spread her legs, giving Narama access to her pussy.

Narama licked her lips at the sight of her queen's exposed pussy and without hesitation began to assault the immortal beauty's clit with her mouth. Arkhalla gasped as she ran her hands through Narama's hair while Peter began to slowly ease his cock into Narama's warm depths. The Vampiric woman moaned loudly as her walls stretched to accommodate Peter's length and girth before she renewed her attack on Arkhalla's pussy with even greater enthusiasm. The immortal monarch moaned as Narama's tongue attacked her clit with a series of rapid strikes while her hands gripped her thighs tightly, her nails almost digging into Arkhalla's flesh.

"Gods below!" Arkhalla breathed as Narama's mouth worked her lips over.

The immortal scout smirked as she trailed her tongue the length of her queen's slit before she lightly bit on her clit. Arkhalla yelped in surprise before she looked down at the grin sported on her bed campion's face.

"My someone's bold" Arkhalla giggled as a hard thrust from Peter caused Narama to gasp before Arkhalla grabbed her by the head and forced her face back into her snatch.

Peter grunted as his cock moved in and out of Narma's pussy, her walls squeezing his cock as it delved deeper and deeper into her depths and seemed almost reluctant to let him pull out. His hands trailed over the woman's toned body. Narama responded by meeting Peter's thrusts as best she could in her position but her mind struggled to concentrate on both enjoying her mistress's pussy and the growing pleasure of Peter's cock inside her.

"Fuck Narama…" Peter groaned as he slapped Narama's rear, causing the woman to jump slightly before she let out a muffled moan as Peter gave her several rapid thrusts to her wet snatch.

"Is she everything you hoped?" Arkhalla breathed out in total bliss as she felt herself about to cum from Narama's skilled tongue

"Y-Yes..." Peter gasped out as he felt Narama's pussy clamp down on his cock as his thrusts grew faster and harder as he felt himself about to cum.

Narama seemed to sense this and began to move her hips in a clockwise motion, increasing the pleasure that Peter was feeling as she bit on Arkhalla's sensitive clit a little harder than earlier. The immortal monarch responded with a loud moan as she finally came from her scout's assault on her dripping pussy as Peter thrusted into Narama's pussy several more times until he finally felt himself cum deep inside her warm depths. Narama gasped as she lifted her wet face from her mistress's pussy before she was silenced by a powerful kiss from Arkhalla.

Peter felt ropes of cum shoot deep into Narama before he began to slowly pull out, cum dripping from the Vampire woman's pussy and on to the bed as she made out with Arkhalla.

"Holy shit..." Peter breathed as he fell back on to the bed and watched the two women run their hands over run another as their tongues battled for dominance.

His cock seemed to throb at the sight of the two aroused women before Arkhalla broke her kiss with Narama and allowed the woman to attack her breasts as she gazed down at Peter, or more specifically, his still hard cock.

"Mmm, your blessing looks delicious covered in Narama's essence" Arkhalla stated before she reached out and gripped his cock and began to pump it.

Peter closed his eyes as the Queen's soft hands ran up and down his length before he felt the bed shift and Arkhalla climb on top of him while Narama maneuvered herself to lie down next to Peter. Both watched as Arkhalla smiled at Peter as she slowly eased herself down on to his cock while Narama pulled Peter into a heated kiss just as the Undying Queen began to bounce up and down Peter's length...

...

It was several hours later that Bel stood in the secret meeting room with the rest of the conspirators that would see Arkhalla overthrown and Ur placed under their command. Sin sat at the head of the table, the leader of the movement while Bel stood at his side, still fuming over losing out to be with the Queen and Narama in obvious favor to Arkhalla's new pet spider. Kuthan stood by the door, relying on his keen hearing to alert him to anyone approaching the meeting and to keep a eye on the various other members of their little cabal, in case any of them began to reconsider.

Sitting around the table was Fazuz, Sin's protégé and sort of right hand man in manners that did not require the edge of a sword or ax. Beside him was the overweight lord of all trade in Ur and it's territories, Talmas. Next to him was Lilit, the court's sort of oracle. Erun, head of the order of Magi while across from him sat Uthara and Anul beside her and Hadu towards the other end of the table.

Kuthan glanced at the various members as they talked among themselves while listening to the very faint, almost unheard footfalls of Narama as she finally dragged herself away from the Undying Queen's bed.

"Anyone know where Narama-"

"There she is" said another one of the members in a low whisper.

"How much longer are we going to-"

""Is it safe-"

"I don't like this-"

"No good to us if her troops are still loyal"

Bel leaned in towards Narama as she fixed her robes "I wasn't sure you'd make it"

The vampires glanced at Bel with a slight scowl "I know our priorities. And it's good if one of us is in her favor don't you think?"

Bel grunted at this as Sin spoke up and called the first full meeting to overthrow Arkhalla to order "Now that we are all here, I take it some among you have suggestions to make. Lord Kuthan?"

"Nobody wants a war. We don't know if we have the troops for it" Kuthan said with a slight shrug as he leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest "If an assassination is our course, Rab and I have some ideas"

Sin nodded at this before he turned towards Erun "Lord Erun?"

"I'd love to hear Kuthan's ideas" the Magi said with a snort "Especially how we won't end up with our heads lopped off. You've all seen our Queen fight"

"Even the Undying can be killed" Kuthan said with a glare towards the Magi leader .

"True, but you seem to forget that our Queen as a new weapon to wield, the Warrior of Aranece. If we are to have any chance at killing her, we must deal with that man first" Erun said with a frown "With him by Arkhalla's side, it'll be next to impossible to kill her, let alone get close enough for such a attempt"

"Plus those spiders of his could warn him what we're planning and when we'll act" Kuthan said with a troubled look on his face "I'm having my men, discreetly as possible, go through the palace and eradicate any spider webs, nests and spiders they see and I make sure every room we meet in now is cleared. If his little agents could help bring down a city like back in Carcosa, imagine what they could do to just the eleven of us here. He'd be running us through before we even realize he's on to us"

"So we're in agreement?" Sin said as he glanced at the others "We deal with the Spider before we move on Arkhalla?"

He was met with several nods and murmurs of agreement before Rab spoke up with a growl of annoyance "And how do we do that?"

"Leave that to me" Bel said as he glanced briefly at a darkened corner of the room.

"You have a plan to rid us of him, Bel?" Sin said with a quirked brow "Do tell..."

Bel was about to speak before a quiet, echoing laugh filled the room, causing several members of the conspiracy to tense up.

"What is that?" Rab said with wide eyes as he searched for the source of the haunting laughter.

 **"That would be meee...** " a low, dark whisper said from what sounded like behind every vampire's back.

"Show yourself coward!" Rab growled as he drew his sword as Bel stepped forward.

"Rab, lower your blade" the immortal general warned.

"Why should I- ACK!" Rab began before a figure suddenly emerged from the shadows and seized the head of the royal guard by the throat and lifted him off the ground.

The figure grinned darkly at Rab as he let out a hiss "Because if you don't little lamb... I'll rip you apart one muscle at a time until all that is left is veins, skin and bone... hehehehe"

Rab paled at the dark look in the figure's eyes as the rest of his co-conspirators stared at Rab and the unknown man in a combination of fear, confusion and outrage. The only one that was calm, or at the very least more composed then the rest, was Bel.

"Release him" Bel said after he saw that the figure's grip on Rab was tightening.

The figure grunted as it dropped Rab and stepped away from the coughing Vampire "Very well... Vampires tastes bitter anyway..."

"And who are you exactly?" Narama asked with a cautious frown towards the newcomer as she still had her bow trained on his head "Better yet, what are you?"

The figure grinned darkly at this as his eyes glowed red with hunger, the air around him growing cold and dark, causing several of the present conspirators to shiver at the unnatural chill that ran up their spines.

"My name is Morlun... and my brother and I are the one's that will deal with your little spider infestation!"

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, shared pasts and curses…


	15. Chapter 15

answers to reviewers questions or statements:

 **rmarcano321** : Lockjaw's in here because this story needs some fuzzy cutness to balance out all the dark violence, political backstabbing and plotting and sex.

 **mpowers045** : It won't.

 **Perseus12** : They haven't, mainly because Peter has little reason to suspect that their's a conspiracy going on at the moment and their actually taking precautions so they don't get caught too early.

 **CRUDEN** : For the most part yeah, but they prefer beings with a more mystical nature to them, something most Vampires have very little of barring a few here and there, one being Arkhalla.

 **tamagat** : No, he dosen't.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or ARH characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

"So, have you decided yet whether Carcosa shall keep it's name or rename it in your honor?" Peter said as he and Arkhalla walked through the lush foliage of her personal garden, located near the top of the place that gave a nearly unrivaled view of the city and the lands beyond it for miles around.

Arkhalla was silent for a moment as she thought over Peter's words before she turned towards the man "I've planned to rename it"

"In honor of your father?" Peter guessed only to watch as Arkhalla shook her head, her grin faltering a little.

"No, it shall be named after my mother, Inanna" Arlhalla said as her eyes drifted towards the city below with a distant look in them "I was told that she longed to conquer Carcosa for what they did to her family when she was a child. To make them pay for butchering her people and driving them into the mountains to live out the rest of their lives like a bunch of animals"

Peter blinked at this before he slowly nodded "Well... I think it's safe to say you accomplished her wish of revenge and then some"

"We accomplished it" Arkhalla said as she looked up at Peter with a small smile "I couldn't have achieved it without you"

"I doubt that" Peter said with a snicker.

"Well... maybe not as successfully as I did with you leading my men" Arkhalla said with a chuckle as they approached a small pond located at the center of the garden that housed two statues in the middle of it's deep, but crystal clear waters.

One of Arkhalla's mother, the other of her late father Anshara, together in an almost loving embrace that often reminded Arkhalla of her youth, before her mother's death... before he father's descent into madness, bloodlust and unstoppable obsession for immortality, at any cost.

"How is one inducted into the Order?" Arkhalla question as they arrived a small bench and Peter took this moment to sit down and relax, his legs sore from spending the better part of the night advancing the training of the Undying Queen's conscripts and implementing a new training regime for the new recruits, bot human and non-human alike.

Peter, who was busy taking these few seconds to admire the rising sun in the distance, turned towards Arkhalla as she sat beside him. His brow furrowed a little at her question before he spoke "Why so curious?"

"There's little know about your late brothers and sisters in arms despite the fact they've exsisted for over a thousand years" Arkhalla said as she leaned back and watched as the dawn came, warming her body with it's rays and golden light while her immortal guards rushed for the cover of darkness within her kingdom "Everyone wants to know, there's just not many of you left to tell us"

Peter hummed at that "I suppose that makes sense"

"So will you tell me?" Arkhalla asked.

Peter didnt respond at first, instead he just watched and listned as the various birds and insects began to awaken and go about their lives within Arkhalla's private garden. After a few minutes, Peter sighed as he leaned back against the bench he and Arkhalla were on and began to talk.

"I was inducted, most people weren't back then" Peter said as the memories of his time with the order began to trickle through his mind "The Order had a group of Seers that would have visions of certain individuals that would go on to do great things and the like. The Grandmaster, wanting to exand the Order's power, would send out agents to aquire these people and bring them to the Order to be raised"

Arkhalla's brows rose a little at this "So you and your brother didnt join willingly, you were conscripted?"

"Yeah..." Peter said with a sigh of dread "My parents... they tried to stop the man they sent for me and Kaine but... but they couldn't"

Arkhalla said nothing as she watched Peter stare out towards the horizion with a distant look on his face. The mood, which was light had become more somber as Peter continued "After your brought to the Order, you spend the next nine or so years being 'educated' in the Order's way of life. It's mission, it's history, everything. Once the elders and the Grandmaster think your ready, they preform an anceint ritual that grants you the powers of a Spider, and on occassions, if our Order's diety was feeling generous, an added ability here and there"

Arkhalla's eyes narrowed at the word 'chosen diety' as a particular memory of her's came to mind "Does this diety of the Order partake in the ritual to any degree?"

"To some extent but not directly" Peter said with a shrug as he tapped on his chest, where Arkhalla knew the 'X' shaped scar was "The preiests put a spell on you that places you in some sort of trance while they cut your heart out. Afterwards, they place it in a bowl of the blood of diety I mentioned earlier and let it be absorbed into the organ. After a few minutes, they place the heart back in the person they cut it out of and release the spell that keeps you asleep"

"So, your powers come from your heart pumping the blood of a God in them?" Arkhalla said with wide eyes.

"That's one way of looking at it" Peter said with a nod as he rubbed the covered scar "Hurt like hell afterwards for weeks"

"That's... rather incredible" Arkhalla said after a few moments.

Peter chuckled "Or amazing, I'm told from time to time"

"Some would say it's horrible" Arkhalla said as she glanced at the form of Shamath as he stood at the entrance of the garden, waiting for her "To be snatched from your home, beaten, starved and molded into a godly empowered warrior"

"They wouldn't be wrong..." Peter said with a snort.

Arkhalla grinned a little as she gazed down at her wrist at the faded scars with a distant look on her face. Peter followed her gaze and traced the small lines with his eyes as the Undying Queen ran a finger over them "How old were you when you received your powers?"

Peter was silent as he mentally counted how old he was when he was taken and how many years he was with the Order before they took him and Kaine and enacted the ritual on them "I was twenty one..."

Arkhalla nodded at this "I was even younger than that when I became... what I am"

"You don't look much older than me" Peter said with a laugh "In fact you look even younger"

"The blessings of immortality I suppose..." Arkhalla smiled a little before it fell and she sighed sadly as she gazed out to the horizon "Sometimes I wonder if that truly is a gift, to live forever"

"Can't be too bad" Peter said as he saw a small butterfly land on his knee before he waved it away.

"For the most part no, but it can be quite lonely" Arkhalla said before she glanced at Peter with a small grin "Unless you have charming company"

Peter hummed at this "Time does run by smoother when your distracted"

Arkhalla chuckled at this before she glanced back at her wrist and sighed as she stood up "Come with me..."

"Where to?" he asked as he stood up and followed the immortal woman towards the garden's main entrance.

"I wish to show you something" Arkhalla replied as she and Peter passed Shamath before stopping and gazing at her body slave "Prepare me a bath, I leave the choices to fill it to you"

Shamath grimaced at this before he sighed dejectedly "Yes, Undying Queen... for you pleasure of course"

Arkhalla grinned as she hooked her arm through Peter's and began to take him deeper into the palace. For a moment, Peter thought they were returning to her chambers for another rut, the third one today, before she turned them down a hall and approached a large metal door with two fully armored guards outside it. Peter quirked a brow at the door as Arkhalla pushed it open to reveal a stair case lit only by a handful of torches.

"What is this?" Peter asked as the cold air hit him like a charging horse.

There was something about the cold draft that sent a equally cold chill up his spine. Arkhalla didn't answer, she simply pulled him down the stair case as the guards outside began to close the door, Peter had to hold back a snicker at sight of both men struggling to do what their queen did on her own without much effort.

 _'Always pays to remind the ones below you that your stronger then they_ ' Peter thought as the air grew colder and a sense of pressure began to build, like one would feel if they dived too deep into a lake or river.

It was than that Peter saw a faint red light further down the stair case and threw a quick glance at Arkhalla to see an unreadable expression on her face. Though he did notice that her body moved closer to his and her grip on him tightened a bit more. Whatever it was that she was about to show him, it unnerved her a great deal. This set Peter on edge as he's come to believe that nothing could really shake the Undying Queen. The two then entered a chamber and Peter came to a stop as his eyes went to the center of the room where a small mystical pit of blood and other dark magic stirred.

"What is that?" Peter asked with wide eyes as he felt every instinct in his body telling him to get as far away from this pit, this chamber, as humanly possible.

"This... this was a parting gift from my father, before his end" Arkhalla said as she removed herself from Peter and approached the pit "The source of my power"

"But what is it?" Peter asked as he casted a cautious glance at the pool.

"It is a gateway of sorts, to the One Below" Arkhalla said as she heard a faint whisper at the back of her mind, urging her to kill the man before her, to offer his blood to it "My father learned of it years ago and sought to use it's power to build an empire that would stretch from one end of this world to the other and allow him to rule it for all time. But to do so required that he make an offering to the pit's owner... a deal"

Peter frowned as he gazed into the murky red depths of the pool, he didn't know why, but he had the faintest feeling that something within it was staring right back at him "A deal...?"

"Yes" Arkhalla nodded as she too gazed at the pool as if she too could tell that despite being the only two in the chamber, they weren't alone anymore "Though my father's plan didn't quite pan out like he hoped obviously. In the end, cruel as he became, even he couldn't offer up his own daughter, the last link to his dead beloved, to the One Below for the power that I now have. Not that it matters, it still got what it wanted, a valuable tool to serve it until their demise"

"And what happens after you die?" Peter asked as he stared at Arkhalla who looked down at the pit with a sense of dread.

"...My true torment begins"

Peter felt a chill run up his spine as he watched as Arkhalla stared into the swirling depths of the pool with a look of helplessness and resignation. No matter what she did, no matter how far she went, she wouldn't be able to escape her inevitable demise and her eternity of hell at the one that she, willingly or not, bargained her soul to.

...

Several hours later Peter and Arkhalla, along with a squad of her Royal Guard and the Captain of the Guard, Rab, stalked through the halls of the Urian palace. Peter's mind was still drifting back to that pit he saw, the source of Arkhalla's power and the cause of her vampirism. It wasn't unheard of for something like this to gift, or in most cases, curse someone with vampirism, Peter's encountered a few in his time, but never something so... dark.

' _I can't even begin to imagine what made such a thing. So as hell wasn't anything for our world'_ Peter thought worriedly.

And if the pit was created by something otherworldly, someone else, he wondered what the

"Yeah, there's nothing better for me to do then stand around and watch you and your court deal out politics" Peter said dryly, causing Arkhalla to smirk.

"The woes of being a monarch" she said they approached the hall for the meeting.

Peter hummed at this before he felt a tingling at the base of his skull, causing him to glance over his shoulder only to see Rab and his men following a few meters behind. Arkhalla saw this and stopped, as did her guard, and turned towards Peter with a look of mild concern.

"Is something the matter?"

Peter glanced at her for a second before he turned towards Rab and his men and the corridor behind them and stated at it for several long seconds before he shook his head "No... nothing"

Arkhalla frowned at Peter's response, clearly not believing him. It also didn't escape her or even Peter's notice that for a brief second, Rab looked a few shades paler before he recomposed himself. However, she decided to leave the matter to rest, her meeting with the rest of her advisors on what to do in regards to Dilmun. Peter followed the Undying Queen like a shadow, his senses still buzzing as he swore he kept seeing flashes of a pale figure and a hungered grin before it was gone just as quickly.

 _'Maybe I'm drinking too much blood_ ' Peter thought as they arrived at the hall that Arkhalla chose to hold the meeting _'I mean when Kaine used to drink it by the pints, he'd see and say all kinds of crazy things'_

"The arrangements are made my Queen" Sin said with a slight bow to Arkhalla as she entered the hall with Peter right behind her.

The large wooden table was occupied by the entirety of Arkhalla's inner circle with goblets filled to the brim with fresh blood and plates of still bloodied organs, limbs and flesh. Peter made a face at the latter and wondered if he could get one of the present human servants to fetch him soothing more... cooked, at the very least.

The immortal beauty nodded at her advisor as she took her seat at the head of the large table and picked up a large gold jewel encrusted goblet filled with freshly spilled blood and took a small sip from it. Her lips quirked in delight at the sweetness of the blood before she turned her attention to her court "Now about that delegation from Dilmun. For the new moon as planned?"

"Of course, everything is ready" Sin said as he began to go into detail while Peter suddenly felt another tingling at the base of his skull, causing him to tense up and scan the room with narrow eyes.

It was than that Peter saw several of Arkhalla's guards moving toward her, their hands reaching for their swords while another gave Rab a weapon of his own as well.

Peter frowned at this _'Now why would Rab, the Captain of the Guard, want to try and kill Arkhalla?_ '

 **SNIKT!**

Everyone turned towards Peter at the sight and sound of him activating his arm blade before he was suddenly behind Arkhalla, facing Rab and his surprised men before the Warrior of Aranece raised his blade and cut down the nearest member of Rab's renegades'. At that, the rest lunged at Peter as he cut another one from head to waist before kicking the now vertically severed man away and stabbed his blade into the open mouth of another vampire. as Peter made to push the now dead undead guard off his blade, another flanked him with the intent to run him through when Arkhalla slammed her drink into his face with enough force to not only shatter the goblet but all but destroy the undead guard's head before Arkhalla ripped the sword he was armed with from his hands and turn it on several others that moved to attack her.

 _'I almost pity them_ ' Peter thought as he noticed Rab at the back of the group, watching him with wide eyes as more and more of his men were cut down by Peter as he slowly moved towards him.

Suddenly a knife flew past Peter's head, the blasé just barely skimming his helmet and creating a small shower of sparks and embed itself in one of he Vampiric guards standing by Rab's side. Peter briefly glanced over his shoulder to see that the knife was thrown by a blank faced Narama while bel, armed with his sword, was aiding Arkhalla in cutting down more of the treacherous vampiric royal guardsmen. Seeing that the Queen was in moderately descent hands, Peter turned his attention back to Rab and with a burst of speed, plowed through several of his guards, one he rammed his blade right into the vampiric soldier's chest and stabbed him right into the ground before he ripped the blade out and raised his blood stained blade and severed Rab's sword arm at the elbow.

"GAAAAAH!" Rab screamed in pain as his hand flew to the now bloody stump and backed away as Peter advanced on him "D-Damn you you filithy sack of s-"

Rab's insult was cut off by Peter slamming his armored fist into the immortal man's face, breaking his nose and sending him spiraling to the floor as the last of his co-conspirators were cut down by Arkhalla and Bel.

"Filthy?" Peter said with a scoff as he retracted his arm blade and gazed down at the scowling man "I'll have you know Rab, I bathed this morning- er night. I bathed when it when the sun was in the middle of the sky... you know what I mean!"

Rab responded by spitting a mixture of blood and saliva at Peter as Arkhalla silently approached the duo with a dark glare on her face. Rab glared up at Arkhalla with a look of defiance as her icy blue eyes seemed to gaze into Rab's own, picking apart his very soul in attempt to uncover the reasoning behind this betrayal. Before she could even open her mouth to say anything, Rab let out a loud, blood curling snarl as he leaped towards Arkhalla, only for the Undying Queen to stop by him grabbing his throat and digging her fingers into it. Rab let out a chocked sound before Arkhalla tore his throat open with a flick of the wrist, causing blood to spray from the man's neck as he fell to his knees with wide horrified eyes while his hands went to his neck, hoping to stem the blood.

"So much for seeing if he was alone or not" Peter said in a dry tone as he glanced at Arkhalla only to tense as she glared at him and held a bloodied finger up in warning.

"Shut. Your. Mouth" she all but hissed in anger as she turned back towards Rab as he fell on to his back, chocking for life before Arkhalla raised her foot and brought it down hard on Rab's skull, crushing it into a puddle of bone, skin, blood and brain.

"Such a waste" Arkhalla hissed in anger as Narama and Bel appeared at her sides.

Bel nodded as he stared at the now dead form of his co-conspirator "Eight men and the Captain of your guard. All for nothing"

Arkhalla closed her eyes and deeply inhaled before exhaling through her nose and stared at the two immortals before her "You stood at my side, both of you"

"Till death parts us my Queen" Bel said while Narama merely nodded.

Arkhalla then turned towards the rest of her court with a look of utter revulsion and rage "You on the other hand just stood there!"

Sin flinched at the tone the Undying Queen addressed him in "It happened so fast my Queen. We were unarmed"

"Your children of the Night aren't you?" Peter said with a frown "And while these guards may be the same, you were all turned by the Queen personally, surly your more powerful because of it"

Arkhalla's rage grew even more as she saw several advert their eyes and was about to order them to be cut down when her spymaster, Kuthan, stepped forward.

"Nobody knew of this" he said.

"I never said you were" she countered with a snarl.

"We are blood of your blood my Queen" Kuthan replied with a solemn bow "Probe us. Question us. You'll know if we speak the truth"

Peter watched as Arkhalla gazed at them with a dark, icy glare that caused a chill to run up his spine. After a few seconds, Peter saw a spark of confusion in her eye before they hardened and she turned away from the group and towards Peter "I have a task for you"

Peter nodded, having an idea of what she wanted "Yes my Queen?"

The immortal monarch turned towards Rab's corpse with a look of disgust "Rab's clever but not smart. He couldn't have done this on his own, found the nerve to betray me in such a manner"

"Co-conspirators" Peter said and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a number of Arkhalla's inner circle pale or tense at his words.

Arkhalla nodded as her own eyes briefly flickered towards the rest before she spoke "You will find out who he's allied himself with. You will root out this Cabal and bring me it's members heads! They shall pay for dare rebelling against m after everything I've gifted them"

"I was thinking I bring them to you alive so they may beg for your forgiveness or plead their excuses for such treachery" Peter countered with a grim smile under his helm "Before you end them yourself, my Queen"

Arkhalla blinked at Peter's counter offer before a dark, almost demonic smile appeared on her face "Hmmm, it appears I chose wisely when I made you my consort Peter... very well, I look forward to your results"

She then turned towards several guards who had since entered and had begun to aid the slaves in cleaning the room of Rab and his men and nodded towards her various advisors.

"Take them to the dungeons. What truth is there will come out... under torture"

Peter watched silently as Sin, Kuthan and the rest were seized by the guards and taken, or dragged in some cases, to the dungeons while the rest of Rab's men and the late Captain himself were collected to be disposed of. The warrior of Aranece turned towards Arkhalla to see her, flanked by Bel and Narama, heading toeards the throne room when suddenly Lockjaw burst into the door and ran straight for the Undying Queen. Arkhalla quirked a brow at the mutt's behavior before she noticed that he was shaking and was running as if some demon was right on his tail. She fell to her knees and scooped the small dog up and began to rub his back while speaking in a low voice, trying to calm the clearly terrified animal.

"What's wrong with him?" Peter asked with a frown as he approached the two and scanned the dog's body for any possible injuries that could explain his current state.

"I don't know" Arkhalla said as she looked into Lockjaw's eyes and saw the sheer terror in them "But whatever it was... it scared him"

Which left the question, what could terrify a dog like Lockjaw when even a Vampire couldn't?

...

The coming days after Rab's attempted betrayal of Arkhalla passed relatively slowly in Peter's mind. With Sin, Arkhalla's military advisor locked away in the dungeons until he either confessed to being in league with Rab, or Nobu discovered that he wasn't, Peter was forced to take on the role along with Bel, something neither of the two were fond of. But the troops training was progressing and no other attempts were made on Arkhalla's life, giving Peter some breathing room.

 _'Some... but not enough'_ Peter thought as he stood in a tent in the center of the training field in the middle of the night, various Nightwalker units moving to and from while he studied a map that showed the recent troop movements of Dilmun.

It seemed they were aware that Ur would be marching on them soon and were already pulling their troops back to defend the capital while also sending a modest amount of people to the few main paths through the extensive marshlands and swamps that surrounded the city.

Peter's eyes narrowed as he traced a few possible routes that the Urian army could take ' _If my Widows can subjugate the various spiders in the swamps, and use them to clear out the various mosquitos, leeches, and other disease carrying animals, and some of the poisonous ones too, we can just march through-'_

"I thought I'd find you here"

Peter paused and turned back towards the tent entrance to see Narama standing there, her cowl pulled back and her bow slung over her shoulder and resting beside her quiver.

"Can I help you?" Peter said as he straightened himself and watched as Narama stepped into the tent and removed her bow and quiver, placing it against the entrance as she moved deeper into the small space.

"Bel sent me to see if you had made any headway in finding us a route through the swamps" she asked as she glanced at the map.

"I'm working on it" Peter said with some annoyance "Be easier if it wasn't just me doing all the work"

"Bel sends his regrets but he was in a meeting with someone" Narama said with a smirk as she wandered around the table, her arm briefly brushing against Peter's.

"Who was he meeting with?" Peter asked with a frown.

"Someone that could help him with the supposed coup against our Queen" Narama said with a shrug.

Peter hummed at that as he turned his gaze back tot he map and was just about to map out another route before he felt Narama behind him, her hands on his shoulders and her mouth next to his ear.

"You look... tense" she whispered as her tongue darted out and licked his ear lobe, causing him to shiver before she pulled away.

"I'm... busy" Peter said as Narama circled him with a thoughtful look on her face while he tried to resist the growing arousal he was feeling as he watched the way the Vampiric seductress moved her body.

"Yes, seeing to the Queen's army and it's eventual victory over Dilmun, how generous of you" she said as her eyes raked over Peter's form before she came to a stop in front of Peter and looked up at the man "Are you aware that Morbious once held your title?"

"I'm sorry?" Peter said with a confused frown.

"Morbious, he was once the Queen's consort, her right hand man" Narama said as she ran a hand over Peter's chest, marveled at the solidity of his muscle "Before his ambition outgrew his loyalty to her"

Peter tired to ignore the feeling of Narama's hand on his chest and the memories of the threesome they had. While Arkhalla didn't give Peter the indication she minded him being with the select women of her court, he had a feeling it would only be allowed with not only her permission, but in her presence only. And as close as Arkhalla and Narama were, Peter sensed the unspoken rule applied to her as well.

"So your saying that I'm nothing special?" Peter said with a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Far from it" Narama said with a shake of her head "But I feel that the Queen may not see you as such for very long"

Peter's brow furrowed at this "Explain?"

"I love my Queen, I would die for her in an instant" Narama said as she slowly fell to her knees, her eyes never leaving Peter's own as she began to undo the claps and straps that held his pants up "But her interests are... fleeting. What holds her fancy for a moment is discarded or forgotten the next"

"But not you" Peter said as he stood still and watched as Narama pulled his semi-erect cock from his trousers and give it a few pumps as she looked up at him.

"I offer you much more than being a simple fancy to hold my interest until the next one comes along" she said as she gave Peter's tip a almost loving kiss "You will stand at my side as an equal. Not only on the battlefield, but in my bed, at my side at court. Wherever I stand, you will be there with me..."

Peter hummed at the offer as Narama took the tip of his cock into her mouth, her tongue swirling around the tip as her hands ran up Peter's thighs and waist. He had just cupped the back of her head and began to lightly thrust into her mouth when he heard the flap to the tent open and someone step in.

"My lord I was-..."

Peter turned to see it was Shamath that had walked in and quickly adverted his gaze from Peter and Narama, the latter still sucking Peter's cock, unconcerned that she was being watched by her mistress's body slave. In fact, it seemed she loved the audience if the intensity of her sucking was anything to go by

"Yes?" Peter asked in a strained voice as Narama continued to suck him off.

Shamath seemed to fidget under Peter's gaze as he spoke "T-The Queen wishes to speak with you"

It was Narama that answered as she removed her mouth from Peter's hardened member and pumped it with her hands "He'll be out in a few minutes, wait outside until we're done here"

Shamath nodded as he stepped back outside and waited by the entrance while Peter turned his gaze back to Narama as she undid the clasp for her top and allowed her breasts to fall out and resumed sucking Peter's cock with even greater urgency. The man closed his eyes in and let out a gasp of pleasure as Narama worked him over with her mouth, her tongue writing a manuscript on the surface of his sex while she took him deeper and deeper into her mouth until her face was almost flat against his waist. Peter bit back a gasp as he felt Narama's throat muscles tighten before she released Peter and stood up. Her clothes were discarded in seconds, as was Peter's armor before he found himself lying on the table with the Vampire beauty riding him.

"Dark mercy yes" Narama gasped as she rocked her hips, her breasts jiggling with each movement while Peter ran his hands up and down her sides, occasionally cupping her breasts and pinching her nipples.

Peter gave her ass a hard slap, causing the woman to jump and allow Peter to turn so that he was on top and began to thrust into Narama's warm, tight snatch. The immortal woman's eyes seemed to roll into the back of her head at eh pleasure she was feeling while the table rocked and shook under the force of their rut. Her legs wrapped around Peter's waist and her arms around his neck as she began to chant his name. Peter was lost in Narama's body, his hands running over every inch he could feel while her voice 3choed through his ears as he pumped his hips into the beauty beneath him. They locked eyes as Peter's thrusts came harder and harder and Narama grinned in hunger, her eyes glowing as she crashed her lips against Peter's own...

Twenty minutes later, Peter exited the tent, adjusting the straps of his armor before he slid his helm back on and turned towards Shamath and was about to tell the man to get moving when he felt a chill run up his spine while a almost painful spike at the base of his skull caused him to tense up. Peter's eyes darted around the area for signs of whatever was setting him off before he saw a lone figure near a shadowed corner of the training field. They possessed pale skin, long black hair and had a dark, hungry look in their eyes as they seemed to stare into Peter's own.

"My lord?" Shamath said, noticing the armored man's odd behavior.

"What?" Peter said as he turn towards Arkhalla's personal slave.

"Are you well?" he asked, doing his best to not flinch under the gaze the man gave him.

Peter grunted a 'Yes' as he turned his gaze back to the spot that he saw the pale figure and to his complete and utter lack of surprise, saw they were gone.

 _'What the hell was that thing?_ ' Peter thought before he noticed that Shamath was still standing there. Peter sighed as he nodded towards the young slave "Let's get moving before we displease the Queen anymore than she probably already is with my lateness"

Shamath nodded as he turned and began to move at a fast pace, by human standards that is, with Peter following a few feet behind.

...

Peter felt his brow twitch at the sight of Lockjaw laying in Arkhalla's lap, lapping up the love and adoration she was showering him with as he stood at the entrance to the throne room, Shamath standing right behind him. The young mutt barked happily at Arkhalla as his tail wagged back and forth before he sat up on his hind legs and gave a series of small licks to Arkhalla's face, causing her to giggle as she cupped the small pup's face and rubbed her nose against his own.

 _'Well, at least he seems to be in better spirits than earlier... and now I know why her face sometimes smells like dog'_ Peter thought dryly as he stepped into the chamber.

"You summoned me my Queen?" Peter spoke up as he approached the throne and saw that Bel and Nobu were both there along with a few other officers.

Arkhalla turned towards Peter and smiled as she nodded while she continued to pet Lockjaw's head in a loving manner "I did, though I'm a little surprised on how long it took you to arrive. Normally your much faster"

"I havent been getting enough rest lately my Queen" Peter said with a chuckle as he nodded towards her "Something you have a hand in if I recall"

"Ah, of course" Arkhalla said with a exagerated nod "How could I forget your duties to your Queen"

Peter snorted in amusement before he saw Arkhalla's eyes suddenly narrow slightly as she looked Peter up and down with a hint of amusement. A sliver of nervousness crept into Peter as he spoke "Is there something wrong My Queen?"

"I was just wondering why I could smell Narama on you" she said with thoughtful look on her face.

Peter had no answer as he stood in silence, causing Arkhalla to chuckle "Ah, so my favored scout thinks she can take you when she pleases hmm?"

"Well I wouldn't say that-" Peter began before he was cut off by Arkhalla.

"I'm not mad, though I would like to know if you have decided to take another woman to please you when my duties prevent me from doing so in a timely and convenient manner" Arkhalla said with a blank face.

"Yes my Queen" Peter said with a small bow.

"But I cannot blame you" Arkhalla said with a giggle as she leaned back in her throne with a distant look on her face "Narama is quite alluring..."

Bel then cleared his throat, causing the Queen and Peter to turn towards the man as he stood there with a scowl on his face "Forgive me my Queen, but..."

"Yes... of course" Arkhalla said with a slight glare on her face aimed at the immortal general before she turned towards Peter "As you know, I intend to march on Dilmun soon"

"I already have several plans drawn up on how to get there" Peter said with a nod before he frowned "Though I may have to make a few alterations to them given the recent... lack of faith from your subjects"

"Indeed, however we are still unaware of just how to approach them without losing half my army or more to their natural defenses in the form of that accursed marshland they have" Arkhalla said with a thoughtful look on her face "Which is why I want you, Bel and several others to find me the best path to Dilmun, and do what you can in making sure that when my army marches on Dilmun, they'll be relatively unopposed or at the very least unhampered by it's terrain"

"You want me and Bel to do this? Together?" Peter said with a quirk of his head.

"I do" Arkhalla nodded before her eyes narrowed slightly "Will this be a problem?"

"...It will not, my Queen" Peter said with a sigh as he glanced at Bel with a furrowed brow under his helm "In fact, it could be quite... fun"

Bel's eyes narrowed before he gave Peter a dark grin while he nodded.

"Yes... it shall be"

...

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, Scouting mission... gone wrong.


End file.
